In spite of speculation earlier this week that a native version of Flash would be able to run on the iPhone thanks to the new SDK, Adobe Systems has come out with a statement to the contrary.

In a conference call with investors on Tuesday, Adobe chief executive Shantanu Narayen was reported to have said the SDK was enough to bring Flash to the iPhone. Critics have complained that Flash runs too slowly on the iPhone to be useful.

"We believe Flash is synonymous with the Internet experience, and we are committed to bringing Flash to the iPhone," he said, according to Apple Insider. "We have evaluated (the software developer tools) and we think we can develop an iPhone Flash player ourselves."

However, by Wednesday evening Adobe had issued an emailed statement saying that the SDK would make it possible, but that Adobe would need to continue to work with the notoriously secretive Apple to make fully-functional Flash on the iPhone a reality.

"Adobe has evaluated the iPhone SDK and can now start to develop a way to bring Flash Player to the iPhone," the statement says.

"However, to bring the full capabilities of Flash to the iPhone web-browsing experience we do need to work with Apple beyond and above what is available through the SDK and the current license around it. We think Flash availability on the iPhone benefits Apple and Adobe's millions of joint customers, so we want to work with Apple to bring these capabilities to the device."

The announcements quell speculation that the SDK is the key to bringing Flash to the iPhone, but doesn't resolve whether the two companies are working together to make it happen.