Flash CS5 Will Export iPhone Apps 154
HanClinto was among a number of readers to send word that Adobe has worked around the inability to run Flash on iPhones and iPod Touch devices. Adobe has been trying to work with Apple for more than a year to get its Flash Player software running on Apple's products, but has said it needs more cooperation from Apple to get it done. Now Adobe has come up with a work-around. At its Adobe Max developer conference in Los Angeles Monday, Adobe announced that the CS5 release of Flash Professional, due in beta later this year, will allow developers to write applications and compile the code to run on Apple devices. Getting these into the app store might be tricky, though.
Some apps are already there... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Why would this be tricky? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Yet another language (Score:3, Informative)
Android has full C/C++ support
They supply the standard C library, but they expose no other API whatsoever. In practice, this means you cannot do any input/output in C and it's use is limited to processor intensive logic.
Re:Why would this be tricky? (Score:3, Informative)
Yeah, but there's no rule that says that the code has to be hand-written. If it uses all the right APIs chances are that Apple will never even notice how the app was generated in the first place.
Re:Some apps are already there... (Score:5, Informative)
I would love to see a comparison between developing the iPhone SDK and Flash.
From Daring FireBall [daringfireball.net] :
From the FAQ:
Can I run content created with Flash in the iPhone simulator on Mac? No. Flash content created for the iPhone will not run within the iPhone simulator on Mac.
Thatâ(TM)s because the Simulator runs x86 binaries, but Adobeâ(TM)s compiler only produces ARM code.
Can I use native iPhone OS Controls in my Flash based iPhone content? No.
Not surprising. Iâ(TM)m guessing this will mostly be used to make games anyway.
No debugging. No native controls.
Monotouch (Score:4, Informative)
Compile C# code written against
Clarification (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Do you still have to... (Score:4, Informative)
If a complete Flash Player and Java are on the iPhone, everyone can develop for the iPhone without an SDK, everyone can publish/sell applications without the crApp Store.
Your argument makes no sense at all. First of all, there are already lots of ways to build iPhone apps without using a Mac, like Unity 3D [unity3d.com] or MonoTouch [monotouch.net]. So you don't need a Mac, even without a JVM or Flash player.
Secondly, you wouldn't be able to publish and sell apps if a JVM or Flash Player would exist on an iPhone, because without jailbreaking the device, the only way to install apps remains through the App Store. Supporting Java or Flash has nothing to do with the way apps are distributed.
Rant all you want, but at least make sense while doing so.
Re:Do you still have to... (Score:5, Informative)
Your argument makes no sense at all. First of all, there are already lots of ways to build iPhone apps without using a Mac, like Unity 3D [unity3d.com] or MonoTouch [monotouch.net]. So you don't need a Mac, even without a JVM or Flash player.
Regarding Unity3D, see the Unity for iPhone Requirements page: [unity3d.com]
In order to license and use Unity iPhone Publishing, developers must meet the following requirements:
And regarding MonoTouch, see the MonoTouch FAQ [monotouch.net]:
What is MonoTouch? .NET programming languages to create native applications for Apple iPhone and Apple iPod Touch devices. [...]
MonoTouch is a software development kit for Mac OS X that lets you use
Do I need a Mac to use MonoTouch?
MonoTouch requires a Mac and Apple's iPhone SDK to test on the emulator and deploy on the device.
So no, those aren't ways to build OS X apps without a Mac. For someone who asks his parent poster to rant all he wants, but at least to make sense while doing so, you might check your facts a little better.
Re:Palm Pre (Score:1, Informative)
Interesting...I must have gotten my Nokia E71 from the future...
It has been out for over a year with flash support, and it is not the first phone to have it...
Wrong wrong wrong wrong WRONG! (Score:5, Informative)
HanClinto was among a number of readers to send word that Adobe has worked around the inability to run Flash on iPhones and iPod Touch devices. Adobe has been trying to work with Apple for more than a year to get its Flash Player software running on Apple's products, but has said it needs more cooperation from Apple to get it done. Now Adobe has come up with a work-around.
This does NOT let Flash content, as we know it, run on iPhone! For once in your miserable lives, editors, (and maybe submitters, too), READ THE DAMN ARTICLE! [adobe.com] Last line of the first paragraph, IN BOLD: These aren't Flash SWF files, they're native iPhone apps.
Getting these into the app store might be tricky, though.
And I HATE this whiny editorializing BULLSHIT! Again from TFA, THIRD FUCKING PARAGRAPH, first sentence: As of today, participants in the Adobe pre-release program have submitted 8 applications and all of them have been accepted into the App Store.
Slashdot eds, this is the worst submission I've seen in a while. kdawson, do you know how to read, or click on a link?
For anyone who actually cares to know details, there's more info here. [adobe.com]
Re:Some apps are already there... (Score:3, Informative)
No native controls makes sense, but "no debugging" doesn't follow from the "can't run in the simulator" statement. With Apple's toolchain, you can still debug while the software is running on the actual device (not the simulator). It's possible that Adobe has done something similar with this. I don't know. It would be interesting to find out one way or the other.