Adobe And Others Wondering If iPhone Will Ever Support Flash

When Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) released the iPhone last summer, it did not support Adobe's (NSDQ: ADBE) Flash Player, which meant Internet videos and other Web sites developed in Flash would not work on the phone. Google's (NSDQ: GOOG) YouTube was one of the only video-sites that bothered to re-format some content, and even still only some of its videos became viewable on the iPhone. So, seven months after the iPhone's release, the question remains: will Apple support Flash?

The WSJ reported today that Adobe's patience is thinning. "No one aside from [Apple CEO] Steve Jobs has any idea if or when it's coming," Ryan Stewart, Adobe's chief spokesman wrote on his blog last week. "Everyone I talk to doesn't know anything."

The stalemate could end this month when Apple is expected to release its SDK, and may include support for Flash. A Feb. 11 report in Gear Live said that they too had heard that Flash was coming soon to the iPhone, and speculated that it would come when the tool kit was available sometime soon.

Apparently, the hold-up has nothing to do with technology, but strained business relations between the two companies. The WSJ said several years ago, Adobe stopped supporting Macs and then released software that was only compatible with Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) products. Then, Apple fired back by making some changes that affected the distribution of Adobe products.