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If you’ve used an iPhone for any amount of time you may have noticed two things: the lack of Flash ads and the lack of any support for online videos (with the exception of YouTube videos). While, personally, I don’t mind the reduction in ads - it’s like using FlashBlock on my browser - the video support issues can be irritating from time to time. There are some work-arounds, like iTransmogrify, but generally, the loss of Flash is noticeable in one’s browsing experience.

Work to get Flash on the iPhone has been slow, mainly because Steve Jobs doesn’t seem interested in supporting such a proprietary format on his precious browser. In fact, he has a pretty good argument, since Flash really doesn’t move easily between platforms. The problem is that it’s EVERYWHERE and you can’t just ignore it because you don’t like it.

Adobe recently mentioned in its Q2 earnings call that it has some kind of Flash working on the iPhone simulator and that they are definitely working on it. Here’s the quote from Adobe’s Shantanu Narayen:

We have a version that’s working on the emulation. This is still on the computer and you know, we have to continue to move it from a test environment onto the device and continue to make it work. So we are pleased with the internal progress that we’ve made to date.

Also, Steve has not outright smashed all hopes of Flash on the iPhone, he’s simply poo-pooed the idea.

I’m not sure how I feel about Flash on the iPhone. It hasn’t really impacted me in a serious way, since most of the videos I watch are on YouTube. Has it done anything to you? Do you want it added?

[Silicon Alley Insider via World of Apple]