The cold war between Apple and Adobe over the former’s near maniacal desire to keep Flash off the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad has been heating up in what could best be described as an exponential chain reaction, with the situation looking set to explode – if reports of an Adobe lawsuit are accurate.
Ever since Apple pre-empted the launch of Adobe’s Packager for iPhone – set to be launched as part of Creative Suite 5 – with its own iPhone OS 4 launch and accompanying developer agreement banning the use of third party compilers, relations between the companies have soured like milk left out of the fridge on a hot day.
Apple’s ban on third party compilers even invoked vitriolic wrath from Adobe employees, with one even going so far as to post a public blog telling Apple in rather impolite terms where to get off.
Not one to put up or shut up, Steve Jobs himself retaliated to the Adobe employee blog posting, stating the opinion that “intermediate layers produce sub-standard apps.”
Adobe’s official response, thus far, has been rather muted, adding fuel to the rumors that law suit is in the works.
If the reports of an Adobe/Apple lawsuit are true, one can expect both firms’ legal departments to be frantically prepping their legal beagles and sharpening their pencils.
So grab your popcorn folks, because this is one flash war you won’t want to miss.
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Chris Stobie is a freelance contributor to RCR Unplugged, residing in Sydney, Australia. You can read more from Chris on the tech blog CtrlRefresh
