And that’s the bloody towel flying into the middle of the ring.
Software makers Adobe, mercilessly pummeled on the release of their Adobe CS5 suite by a new provision in Apple’s iPhone Developer Program License Agreement that prohibits apps made with translation tools, have just announced that they officially intend to abandon their iPhone app building technology included in the upcoming Flash CS5 software.
Adobe’s Mike Chambers noted the futility of using the feature in a statement:
We will still be shipping the ability to target the iPhone and iPad in Flash CS5. However, we are not currently planning any additional investments in that feature.
While it appears that Apple may selectively enforce the terms, it is our belief that Apple will enforce those terms as they apply to content created with Flash CS5. Developers should be prepared for Apple to remove existing content and applications (100+ on the store today) created with Flash CS5 from the iTunes store.
By saying Apple may enforce their terms selectively when it comes to apps created with other translation tools, Adobe is definitely implying that Apple has a blood feud with them…. a theory pretty hard to discount given Jobs’ own hard criticisms of the Flash platform over the past few months.
