Adobe CS5 to Allow Flash to Compile iPhone Apps
Since Adobe can’t get Flash on the iPhone — yet — they figure the next best thing is to let Flash CS5 and ActionScript 3 compile native iPhone apps that can be submitted to the iTunes App Store and run on iPhones and iPod touches everywhere.
In fact, Chroma Circuit, Trading Stuff, Fickleblox, Just Letters, South Park, The Roach Game, and Red Hood — all already on the App Store — we also all already developed using Flash and converted to the iPhone.
Like the earlier announcement from Novell about MonoTouch letting .NET compile iPhone apps, Flash is using the same “ahead of time” compilation instead of “just-in-time” to build the native apps.
Some will say this lowers the barrier of entry for developers to gain access to the App Store. We just hope it doesn’t make it so low they trip over it on their way in.
Again, from our point of view, it’s ultimate not about making things easier for developers, it’s about making things better for end-users. It’s not about us getting more apps, it’s about us getting better ones.
If a bunch of brilliant Flash (or .Net or Java or whatever.runtime) developers suddenly cross over and decide to make brilliant apps for the iPhone, then, yay! However, in our experience the truly brilliant developers are the ones who care so deeply about their apps they edit them down to the last sub-pixel level, and tweak the code until it behaves like it was born to the metal. In other words, those developers likely already picked up Cocoa like it wasn’t no thing.
The other ones, the ones who just want to pump out as many $0.99 CrApps as possible — yeah, we’re worried they’re turning our direction, and we have enough of them already, thanks very much.
Are we overly pessimistic? (Though we’re hardly the only ones). Do you think a lot of great Flash games will suddenly make the jump to the iPhone now? If so, name us your favorites, and let us know!
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Linerideer!!!!
The Impossible Quiz! The Impossible Quiz 2! The Inpossible Quiz Book (with in-app purchase for the chapters)
Nah…the truly brilliant developers are those who use the right tool for the job. As the old adage goes, “premature optimization is the root of all evil.” Snuggling up to XCode and Obj-C because Apple pushes it is no better (or worse) than snuggling up to Flash because you are used to it.
Yes, mobile phones are constrained devices, so more and earlier optimization is required, but any app that utilizes Cocoa Touch widgets — virtually all non-games — does not tweak them “down to the last sub-pixel,” and it is laughable to assert otherwise.
Performance and tool choice are not an on/off thing. Yes, using Obj-C will likely allow more control over low-level stuff than using Flash. If your app does not require that control, so what?
Similarly, I would expect somebody who really needs performance to chuck Apple’s UIKit and the runtime dynamism of Obj-C wrappers as much as possible and stick to straight C.
Does that make Obj-C ill-suited for iPhone game development? Of course not – the “so what” applies here too. You pick the toolchain that gives you the best balance for your project. Obj-C has a HUGE sweet spot for iPhone (and Mac) development, but is not — and should not be, for any competent developer — the only choice in town. Flash and Monotouch are not ill-suited to iPhone development; they simply occupy a different place on the continuum.
The truth is if you don’t want to spend ridiculous amount of money on overpriced Mac just because iphone SDK works only on MAC OS then you don’t have that much choice in terms of developing environment. MonoTouch can be run on windows and same applies to adobe flash. Developing in flash doesn’t mean you won’t have to learn Obj-C – I don’t see adobe rewritting 100′s of samples of code to their action script so if you want to do anything serious you will have to look at apple’s documentation with Obj-C examples. It also makes sense to learn about the platform that you develop on to gain better understanding of architecture.
Oh yay, $0.99 flash games
@Dev:
Well said.
In the end, Adobe has decided to make Flash into a programming language for certain types of media, and since Apple won’t allow their bloated runtime onto the phone, they have decided a newer optimized backend is in order.
Good for Adobe. Everything they do turns to Bloatware in short order. I’m glad Apple stood up to them.
But more important, this is simply another programming language on the phone. The market is just now getting to the size where alternative languages and/or compilers should start appearing.
They will all have to put out something that will run in Apple’s harness, but it doesn’t have to look exactly like the horse Apple rode in on.
I thought MonoTouch was cool, but this sounds really neat.