For all of the whooping and hollering between Apple and Adobe over the past few months, what really counts is how Flash performs on a smartphone. We’ll find out that answer next week when Froyo is released.
At next week’s Google I/O summit, Google will take the wraps off of Froyo, the next version of its Android OS. It will likely be available to Nexus One owners first who will be able to upgrade their phones immediately. Carriers will then slowly roll them out to everyone else.
Inside Android’s Froyo is Adobe’s Flash 10.1 for mobile devices, which has been the center of controversy for the past few months.
Adobe’s expensive print and online campaign, released today as advertising on many popular sites (including this one), says that the company loves Apple but it doesn’t love the way Apple has shut it out of app development. That’s to be expected.
Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs has been a sharp critic of Flash and had penned a manifesto on why he’d never let Flash onto his beloved iProducts.
Both appeals are pretty disingenuous. Both companies have proprietary systems and objectives. Adobe wants access to the iPhone. Apple, with its huge lead in the mobile space doesn’t want developers using other products.
But, why the campaigning. let the market decide.
I’m not sure why Adobe (ADBE) is spending time or money trying to win people’s hearts and minds with ads. If it would just build a great product, it would win over consumers. And as consumers fell in love with a mobile Flash, Flash developers would continue to be able to make a good living. Eventually, if Flash is so fantastic, Apple would play ball.
So next week, Adobe Flash has its shot on Android. For its sake, I hope it does well, because I’m not sure it’ll get any more shots on mobile. And mobile is everything.
