Apple CEO Steve Jobs rips Adobe Flash

Apple CEO Steve Jobs stepped up Apple's criticism of Adobe's Flash technology in a stinging post today entitled simply "Thoughts on Flash."

"Flash was created during the PC era -- for PCs and mice," Jobs writes. He criticizes Flash, which is used to display graphics and play much of the video found on the Web, as prone to crashing, weak on security and battery-draining. He also describes it as a "'closed" system that makes it tough for outside software developers to create for Apple products. Apple does not support Flash on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.

From Jobs' post:

Flash was designed for PCs using mice, not for touch screens using fingers. For example, many Flash websites rely on "rollovers", which pop up menus or other elements when the mouse arrow hovers over a specific spot. Apple's revolutionary multi-touch interface doesn't use a mouse, and there is no concept of a rollover. Most Flash websites will need to be rewritten to support touch-based devices. If developers need to rewrite their Flash websites, why not use modern technologies like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript?

Even if iPhones, iPods and iPads ran Flash, it would not solve the problem that most Flash websites need to be rewritten to support touch-based devices.

Here's the full post. We'll update you as we get more reaction.

By Nancy Blair