There has been a lot of criticism and hype about Apple’s new iPad. With the recent release of Apple’s new gadget on April 3, user reviews are still coming in and the market is starting to decide how the iPad will fit into consumers’ lives. Lack of Flash support is probably one of the biggest criticisms of the iPad, but Apple (more importantly, Steve Jobs) has decided that the iPad doesn’t need flash. You can read more about the iPad-flash debacle at CNNMoney.
Why should the iPad run flash? The iPhone and iPod touch have never supported flash. Steve Jobs believes that Adobe’s flash source code is outdated. The idea is to get millions of users to adopt the mobile iEcosystem (iPad, iPhone, iPod touch) and force web designers to find an alternative to flash if they want the iUsers to watch videos.
Some might ask “How do I watch videos online without flash?” The answer is HTML5. HTML5 is a new and rising web standard, which allows users to watch videos without downloading flash. This is how Steve Jobs wants to crush Adobe’s decrepit flash player. Big shots like Hulu and Youtube are already on board. They have been testing the waters with HTML5. In the event that every household has an iPad by the end of May, Youtube and Hulu will not have to start from scratch.
I just tested Youtube’s HTML5 beta. It seems that Youtube hasn’t found the best solution for HTML5 to support ads. Of course there is still a lot of work to be done on HTML5 before it reaches the level that flash is today, but changes in market preference could have us using HTML5 really soon.
If you want to see the progress that Youtube has been making with HTML5, you can join the HTML5 beta at youtube.com/html5 and test it out yourself. Remember that your browser has to support HTML5 for it to work. If you grow tired of a HTML5 based youtube, you can opt out of the beta on the same page you opted in.
The iPad has a certain allure. It isn’t just a big iPod touch and it isn’t a laptop computer. I don’t know what to make of the iPad. Adoption of HTML5 will certainly benefit end-users and aid Steve Jobs in his quest to crush flash, but only time will tell if the iPad really lives up to its potential.
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