I was excited to hear in Adobe’s CS5 launch yesterday that Flash CS5 supports iPhone app export but later in the day I heard Apple’s newly revised section 3.3.1 of their licensing terms makes it so Flash made apps likely won’t be allowed! This is not the only thing the new terms limits.

From the Apple licensing terms: “3.3.1 — Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).”

Adobe Platform Evangelist Lee Brimelow wrote: “What they [Apple] are saying is that they won’t allow applications onto their marketplace solely because of what language was originally used to create them. This is a frightening move that has no rational defense other than wanting tyrannical control over developers and more importantly, wanting to use developers as pawns in their crusade against Adobe. This does not just affect Adobe but also other technologies like Unity3D…Speaking purely for myself, I would look to make it clear what is going through my mind at the moment. Go screw yourself Apple.” —TheFlashBlog

“Go screw yourself Apple” –Lee Brimelow (Adobe Platform Evangelist)

Some critics think the addition to the terms is “clearly illegal” and will be challenged in court. Whether it goes that far is yet to be seen, but it has certainly threatened to make life very difficult for developers. It basically says Apple can squash any app for any reason.

“This isn’t just a philosophical debate about what restraints Apple ought to have on its app store. It could destroy the work of many developers and companies who rely on the iPhone as their main market and source of revenues.” –Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry (from Business Insider)

For as long as I can remember, Apple and Adobe seemed to be comrades in this business. Now it seems Apple has not only turned on Adobe but on it’s loyal developer following, not to mention any website owner who’s flash content is not viewable on the iPhone. Everyone except Apple seems to want Flash on the iPhone. Steve, what’s up?!

I’m not a big fan of Apple anyway but, wow, this is harsh.

With the future of Flash for Mac wireless platforms uncertain at best content providers are making investments to move their content from Flash to HTML5.

Stay tuned.

–Petra