I saw this poorly researched atrocity when it was first published the other day and immediately wrote CNN asking that they correct the numerous factual errors in the article. I have yet to hear back.
Unfortunately, tech reporters can get away with all sorts of lies and inaccuracies without doing any actual journalism. Honestly, reporters; we are experts, we are out here, we don’t bite, and we are happy to talk to you about our passion. Do some real reporting and stop writing whatever will get you the most traffic.
Here follows my response…
“Wallaby” is a tool for advertisers familiar with animating banner ads in Flash Professional, to be able to continue using that tool to produce ads compatible with iOS. Adobe is also working on other advanced tooling for HTML but this in no way is “caving” to anything. They have always built tools for HTML and continue to do so in innovative ways. Flash vs. Apple is simply a good way for tech authors to generate traffic because it presents opposition and drama.
I have been on the “Wallaby” prerelease for months and while the author presents the tool as being able to convert any Flash content to HTML, this is simply not true. It can convert the simplest of animation and that is all. You cannot use it to convert interactive elements, games, or full applications to HTML. It is not designed for that.
Adobe and Apple are not on the same page regarding Flash on iOS, but engineers from the Flash and Safari teams do work together on improving how everything works together, and the Flash Platform can be used to compile applications for iOS (just not apps that run in the web browser). The two companies have certainly not been at odds since the 1980s. That is ridiculous.
As for video serving companies like YouTube and Hulu; both have come out with statements to the effect that while they are experimenting with HTML native video, that they continue to use Flash to deliver video for the forseeable future because of the many benefits it offers. Many browser makers, such as Google and Opera, have joined the Open Screen Project and Google even bakes the Flash runtime into Chrome. The just released IE9 contains specific hooks for integrated GPU acceleration for the Flash Player runtime. While the tech reporters enjoy painting a picture of dying technology- the facts speak otherwise.
As far as Apple holding the largest portion of the smartphone market; this has recently shifted with Android being the dominating smartphone platform worldwide. It’s unfortunate that reporters cannot seem to do their research any longer before writing tech articles.
CNN: you can do better. C’mon.