Skyfire, the Mountain View based developer of mobile web browsers, has announced that their browser application for iPhone is ready and has been submitted to the App Store for Apple's approval. This comes five months after the company announced its work on the iOS platform.
If approved, Skyfire will join Opera Mini as one of the very few third party browser apps that offer a viable alternative to Mobile Safari on the iPhone platform.
One of the most interesting aspects about the Skyfire iPhone app is its ability to run Adobe Flash videos. Considering Apple's recent stand against the multimedia platform, this is one of the most contentious issues that could cloud the approval process. It is also worth noting that Apple had recently banned the use of transcoding processes to render Adobe Flash on the iPhone.
Skyfire insists that the app has been developed with Apple's app development guidelines in mind and that the browser will render Flash through a procedure that does not violate their terms. Skyfire's mobile browser does not play or transcode Flash files. Instead, the iPhone app will remotely convert Flash videos into HTML5 format before they are embedded into the user's browser. Unlike apps that Apple has rejected in the past, the process for making Flash iPhone-compatible is done on Skyfire's servers and not on the device, which should ideally satisfy Apple's requirements. The company further notes that the app was developed “with significant oversight and feedback from Apple”.
While users may get access to Flash on their iPhones using Skyfire for iPhone, they may however not be able to interact with these Flash files. This is because the entire format conversion happens outside the iPhone's local environment and consequently would render Flash-based games and music players dysfunctional.
Nevertheless, we believe this is a great first step towards seeing Flash on the iPhone. Do you think Apple will approve this app? Tell us what you think in the comments.
[via MobileCrunch]
bullshit
well this will be on cydia if it doesn't get accepted
waiting ….
Although it would be nice to be able to view Flash content, I don't think it's worth changing. browsers for. Soon people will be selling their soul to the devil for a Flash Player ha ha
Transitioning to html5 is the correct way – it should be done on the primary web site already!
@Ico websites don't want to convert the flash videos and animations to html5 because they would lose the functionalities. Plus, they surely don't have or can have programmers that are able to create the same or better effect using html5 technologies. So, this is a good temporary solution and Apple should offer this on his Safari mobile browser but that would definitively tell Adobe their technology is bullshit… Will Skyfire be approved ? I hope but I am not sure, and if not, they can offer this solution without the need of a special browser.
Apple will find a way of not approving cuz it seems personal jobs doesn't want flash period
This is just a work around for flash, not a solution. Frash anyone? I use it on my iPhone 4 and its still a little buggy/slow to respond, but the general idea gets through. Most of the time its not mobile optimized so its slow, even on android handsets. Flash just wasn't meant for mobile. Java was however….
I don't get it at all. I might be wrong in saying this but Youtube is run on Flash doesn't it? So why apple is not letting us have flash? Please don'tflame me if I'm wrong!!!
Thanks
Lol don't worry I won't flame you
Youtube on the iPhonw doesn't use Flash it uses a video format the iPhone can understand which is either mp4 or h.264 (They might be the same thing I'm not sure…)
@:) that was funny
Do those tacos REALLY suck…?
Apple will use different tech, thats for sure! flash has been around for a while already…. we need some new!