As I started to become convinced that the iPad might have real possibilities as a productivity device, I heard one consistent comment from those questioning the device.
“But what about Flash?”
Ten second background, Flash is a format for playing video and allowing for animation within websites. Until recently it has been the most prevalent format. With this, Adobe, the company who owns it, has held sway over much of the development of the web.
When it was released, the iPad was incapable of playing flash. Browsers could be downloaded to convert Flash into html5, the animation format used by the iPad, but these were clunky. Apple seemed resolute that they had no intention of building Flash capability into their operating system, so iPad users had to make peace with the fact that they were going to live without it. Other tablets immediately marketed that they were flash compatible. It seemed that this was going to be a clear dividing line between the different products.
So, what happened?
As the numbers of iPads grew and their applications moved into businesses and schools, content providers knew that they could not afford not to have their product on the iPad, so they shifted. More and more content became available in html5 and more flash applications became available as iPad apps. A few weeks ago Adobe announced that they were moving away from their support for flash for mobile devices. The great divide wasn’t a divide at all.
What does this show?
If a platform is good, and if it reaches critical mass in distribution,then the world will come to it. This is important thing for educators and others to remember about this and other devices. Don’t panic over what a platform cannot do, instead do what it does, and the rest will catch up…because they have to.
As always, I welcome your comments.