AIR 2.6 brought a lot of great stuff, but one specific feature I just couldn’t pass by — publishing for iOS. Yes, there was this thing called Packager For Iphone, but now it is a part of ADT and is claimed to be much faster.

So, we have Flash Builder Burrito, Flex Hero SDK focused on mobile development and now AIR 2.6. You can see clear vector where Adobe is moving. There are many tutorials for Android platform, but iOS is lacking. So, let’s try to compile a small Flex application for iPad.

The new iPhone Developer Program License Agreement states…

3.3.1 Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).

I’m sorta surprised they didn’t wait until Tuesday (after CS5 drops) to drop this bomb after everyone bought flash CS5. But then again, that’s likely why they did this show and tell today, to make sure people didn’t buy flash.

Looks like Apple totally doesn’t want Flash on their devices. In any form.

R.I.P CS5 iPhone publishing.
It was good while it lasted. Hell, it’s not even available yet.

Just witnessed this situation. True story.

So, earlier this week Apple announced iPad.

Everyone and their mom has already blogged about it, but my view is kind of different. Considering other blog posts I’ve read so far.

Is iPad a failure?

First of all, people were waiting for a MacBook Touch but got a giant iPod. Second, the majority of bloggers are IT specialists or geeks. iPad isn’t a MacBook Touch and isn’t really for geeks –> iPad == failure. That’s the logic I see everywhere.

I was thinking same way until I tried to look at the device from a common user’s view. Let’s take my mom. iPad is actually how she sees a computer. It’s easy to use, fast, can browse internet for news and play videos. And it’s cheap. iPad is perfect for her. I’m seriously thinking to buy her one when it comes out.

iPad is a tablet PC for common people not for geeks like us.

So, no, iPad is not a failure.

What if Apple released something like a MacBook Touch?

Well, what do we have now (actually, will have in 2 months). A fast, easy to use device with big cool multi-touch screen. App store offers a lot of software and soon there will be a lot of apps adapted for large screen. It can work for 10 hours straight. Millions of iPhone/iPod owners know how to use it. And it’s cheap.

Now imagine a MacBook Touch.

1. It’s damn expensive,
2. It can work for 2 hours without recharge,
3. It’s kind of slow and everything is too small for a touch interface,
4. There are no apps for it, existing OS X software is unusable with touch screen,
5. Common users don’t really know how to use it.

Apple tries to hold everything in their hands. That’s why general non-geek users will love the ease of use and good usability. I predict it to be very popular.

Unlike other tablets with Windows 7 trying to be small laptops without keyboards. I’m sure a lot of geeks will buy those, but geeks are a small percent of people. Do you think why iPhone is so popular? It’s a closed platform too. Unlike Android which is a geeks-2-geeks product.

So, how iPad affects flash developers.

Personally, I pray for CS5 to be able to publish real iPad applications. Adjusted for big screen, working fast and smooth. Otherwise I’ll have to learn Objective-C. iPad will definitely be a trend which you can’t just ignore. Apple vs. Adobe war makes us flash developers suffer according to theflashblog.

I understand why Apple is doing this but nowadays web experience without Flash isn’t full. Flash is everywhere. If it wasn’t a big problem with iPhone, it definitely will be with iPad. It is targeted for common users and they don’t care why sites can’t be shown as they are used to. Hope Apple and Adobe will come to an agreement some day.

As for now flash developers are not needed for iPad because there’s no flash. If mobile Safari supports HTML5 and the power of AJAX there will be more sites using these technologies instead of Flash.

But as I already said, if CS5 is able to create full-featured iPad apps it will be TOTALLY AWESOME! Flash developers will rock the world!

Everyone understands that it’s very bad for Apple to let Adobe have flash player in iPhone’s Safari. I bet it will harm a lot App Store, especially games, because of millions of free flash games over the Web. If an iPhone is powerful enough to run them is another question though.

This is apparently how Adobe begs Apple to let iPhone have flash player installed.

And that CS5 will be able to publish to iPhone surprised me a lot. But after some thinking it seems that Flash to iPhone publishing is much better for Apple than it may seem. It is another free (free for Apple) platform to develop apps which requires developers’ license too and all apps are subject to App Store censorship. More apps — more money.

And mean while, here are two links to Mike Chambers’ posts where you can find more information about Flash to iPhone publishing.

FITC Edmonton Slides : Building iPhone applications with Flash CS5
Resources for Learning more about Flash to iPhone