No Flash For The iPhone, Does It Matter?

The smartphone operating systems that will soon be able to support Adobe's product include Nokia's Symbian, Microsoft's Windows Mobile and Google's Android. Adobe is even making overtures to Research In Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry to Flash.

Still conspicuously left off the list is Apple's iPhone.

It's not from a lack of trying, though. Adobe has previously made overtures to Apple, trying to get its software to operate on the iPhone. Steve Jobs, however, has reportedly said that he's not interested in putting Flash on the iPhone because it "performs too slow to be useful."

Maybe, but it's clear that the iPhone has the capabilities to run Flash, which is supposed to be able to operate on any device with 200-MHz or better processor and 16MB of RAM. And it is hard to believe Apple's claim that the iPhone is a fully functioning Web browser, even though the vast majority of Web pages use Flash.

Apple's decision to not embrace Flash may be an opening for Nokia, Google and RIM to work their way back into the smartphone market. RIM, in particular, may seize the opportunity as another differentiating factor for potential customers to choose the Storm, its long-awaited consumer play, over the iPhone.

It is doubtful that the iPhone is going to lose its crown even though the Storm will do its best to usurp its position in the market. But iPhone users want Flash -- along with a few other features like copy and paste that Apple steadfastly refuses to provide, at least to this point.

Still, Flash might be that icing on the cake that cements the iPhone's stranglehold on the market.