News Flash: Apple 1, Adobe 0

If you read about technology issues at all, you are aware of the battle (or should I say war) that Apple and Adobe have engaged in for quite some time. As Apple entered the smart phone market with the introduction of the iPhone in 2008, a funny thing happened on the way to the introduction. Much to the surprise of many people, Adobe Flash was not included on the iPhone or later iPad. That meant any video or animation designed to use Flash on a website got a big blank on the iPhone.

Many web developers started to think twice about including those jaw dropping but many times totally unnecessary Flash openings we have all seen on too many websites. But Flash is used everywhere. How could Apple stand off and win against such a ubiquitous piece of software and win? As we all know by now, backing off is not one of Apple's strong suits.

In fact, it turns out that the feud between Apple and Adobe traces back to 1999 when Chairman Steve Jobs asked Adobe to make a Mac version of the program Adobe Premiere. Adobe denied the request stating that there were too few Macs to justify the development expense. Jobs never forgot. And now the tables have turned.

Just weeks after Jobs passing, Adobe has changed course and will no longer promote Flash for use on mobile devices. Instead, Adobe will turn to HTML5, a technology that is backed by all major players.

A note about the browser wars.

It wasn't too long ago that Explorer ruled the roost due to the fact that it is pre-loaded on virtually every PC sold. Nevertheless, with the growth of open source Firefox in recent years and the recent introduction of Google's Chrome browser, Explorer has lost significant market share. But of all of the browsers, who would have guessed years ago that the upstart Apple Safari browser, a browser that was always trailing the pack and was just used by college kids and creative geeks would now hold the same position that Explorer did for so many years (at least as it relates to the iPhone and iPad. As Safari is the browser pre-loaded on those devices, it has become the go-to browser for many people who had never dreamed of using Safari before they purchased their first iPhone.

My, how things have changed.