Jobs tells WSJ that Flash is a dying technology

On a recent trip to the Big Apple, THE BIG Apple, Steve Jobs, visited newspaper publishers with an iPad. Trying to gain some positive publicity for his latest gadget, Jobs was asked about the lack of Flash on the device. Jobs replied that, "We don't spend a lot of energy on old technology." He told the WSJ that Flash is a "CPU hog" and a source of "security holes" besides being buggy. He compared Flash to other types of technology which might have been standards in its day, but which Apple got users to stop relying on. Such standards as the floppy drive, which the iMac never used, old data ports-even the Apple Firewire 400-now gone from iPods and Macbooks, and CD's which have been replaced by iTunes. Jobs told the journal staff that if the iPad CPU had to spend time working on Flash, its battery life would drop from 10 hours to 1.5 hours. The CEO suggested that the WSJ use H.264 for video. The problem there is that Flash still is best at putting together rapid deployment of interactive graphics. Plus, H.264 is covered by a patent which could end up making it very expensive. But we get the gist of the comments. Jobs is saying that if all Apple products get by without Adobe's software, Flash will soon disappear from the face of the earth. Uh, iPhone users, time to stop asking when your handset will get Flash.

source: VALLEYWAG via arstechnica