Steve Jobs posts 'Thoughts on Flash' on Apple website

Steve Jobs, the tight-lipped and tight-jeaned CEO of Apple, has shed his notoriously held reticence with a 1,600-word manifesto, describing exactly why the Cupertino company is so resistive of including Adobe Flash support in the iPhone, iPod and iPad.

Beginning with Apple's sizzling animosity with the Photoshop, PDF, and Flash creator Adobe, Jobs writes that while Apple and Adobe work together in providing Adobe's Creative Suite products to Mac users, "beyond that there are few joint interests."

Jobs continues to outline exactly why Apple is so opposing of Flash, with six key points. Apple believes that the phrase so commonly slung at the smartphone giant, 'closed system', is equally effective in describing Flash. Apple has adopted HTML5 for the iPhone and iPad, which is "completely open and controlled by a standards committee," while Flash is goverened entirely by Adobe.

Point two is that while Adobe is quick to say that Apple devices can't access 'the full web', Jobs lists a great deal of websites that are entirely viewable on the company's devices, including YouTube, Vimeo, and Facebook. Flash games are also of no interest to Apple, with its 50,000 strong game library doing just fine on the iPhone.

Security is a big issue for Apple, with Jobs writing that "We also know first hand that Flash is the number one reason Macs crash." He continues to say "Flash has not performed well on mobile devices," and has never seen proof of Adobe's claim of a smartphone running flash successfully. Perhaps Jobs will change his tune when the Android 2.2 operating system ships with Flash support.

Battery life is another concern, as is the fact that Flash is designed for PC mice in mind, rather than touchscreens.

Finally, Apple reiterates its disapproval of Apps using a third-party development tool like Flash. The reasoning behind it is that development platforms such as Flash are multiplatform and target the lowest common denominator. Jobs writes "we cannot accept an outcome where developers are blocked from using our innovations and enhancements because they are not available on our competitor’s platforms."

Jobs finishes his message with "Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind."

The Wall Street Journal sat down with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, who disagreed with some of Jobs's assertions. Narayen says that if Flash crashes on Macs, that it has something "to do with the Apple operating system" and calls accusations of Flash draining battery power "patently false."

Narayen says Jobs's portrayal of Flash as a closed platform is amusing, saying, "Flash is an open specification." He states that he's met Steve Jobs on a number of occasions, remarking that "We have different views of the world. Our view of the world is multi-platform."