Despite Apple’s new iPhone OS 4 SDK licensing agreement preventing the use of cross-compilers, Adobe launched Flash CS5 with Packager for iPhone today which aims to do just that — let developers turn Flash apps into iPhone apps.

Adobe announced the complete CS5 suite of apps as well, including Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere, but the mobile world’s attention remained fixed on Flash CS5 and the escalating war of words on the interwebs. While many developers are understandably upset with Apple, the countervailing trend from an Apple point of view is lining up behind the “control” and “quality” arguments. Apple doesn’t want to lose control of the iPhone platform to Adobe any more than it does to Google. It wants to release the OS it wants, when it wants, and not have to worry about third-party warlords holding it, and large percentages of its app user base, hostage.

Jason Snell at Macworld puts it this way in his treatise on Apple against the world:

Apple doesn’t want apps that don’t feel like native iPhone apps on the iPhone. It doesn’t want Adobe to aid developers in creating a world where App X for iPhone and App X for Android are indistinguishable from one another. Apple doesn’t want to introduce new iPhone features and then watch as nobody takes advantage of them because Adobe hasn’t updated its development system yet. Or, worse, watches as Adobe refuses to adopt them because the other operating systems don’t support those features.

If iPhone apps are one of Apple’s greatest assets, a lowest-common-demoninator app world is Apple’s greatest nightmare. Apple wants the iPhone app experience to be created using Apple’s native tools by developers who are engaged with the platform and falling over themselves to support Apple’s latest features. These are the developers who were downloading and installing iPhone OS 4.0 on Thursday and poring over the documentation, getting ready to dig in and start updating their apps for this summer’s release.

Louis Gerbarg of devwhy.com claims Apple has been held hostage, forced to dump APIs, change engineering plans, and otherwise been thwarted in the past by such dependencies. He also thinks Adobe shares some of the blame for the current situation:

Adobe is a large company with a significant, and complicated, relationship with Apple. They have frequent high level contacts and meetings. Adobe has known for quite some time about Apple’s desire not to have Flash on the iPhone. There is no doubt in my mind that if they asked Apple to bless this they were rebuffed, and if they didn’t ask the only reason they didn’t was because they knew Apple would say no. In either event, they announced the product to their customers and sold them on an idea they were not in a position to deliver, hoping Apple would be unwilling to piss off developers by not fulfilling Adobe’s promises. They tried to force Apple’s hand by putting Apple in a position where in order stop the Flash they would have to do it publicly in front of Adobe’s users. That was a bad call on Adobe’s part.

Personally, in this whole thing the most distasteful part is that Adobe used its userbase and their livelihood as a bargaining chip. These kinds of high stakes negotiations have happened in the past many times. They are much more common than people think, and until the last few years Apple was more likely to be on the weaker side of the negotiation.

Hence our titular metaphor of Vader shaking his firsts, but not the real Star Wars Vader, the tiny-handed one from Episode 3 who screamed “nooooooooooo!” while shattering everything around him. That Vader.

How this ultimately turns out is anyone’s guess, but if your immediate goal is to make truly great apps for the iPhone, you’ll likely do better sticking to Xcode for now…

Adobe shakes tiny Vader fist at Apple, launches Flash CS5 Catalyst is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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In this post are two Kins. We will link to them now. Microsoft’s new two Kins. “Social phones” sure to wow.

Project Pink (no not that one) but with a name that’s all new. Two phones Microsoft’s calling Kin One and Kin Two.

These Kins won’t have App Stores, they’re for tweens and for fun. All Facebook and Twitter for tweens on the run.

They will have media and browsers (yes it’s IE). They’ll even hook to Macs. (Drive-mode USB).

So add to Xbox and Zune, Windows and Azune, two Kins for the cloud (and branding? No matter!)

Neither TiPb nor I have much more to say. Windows Phone 7, after all, was just yesterday.

But at least Google and Microsoft still aren’t making phones. Who’s next not to make one we wonder… Nintendo? Amazon?

Microsoft’s two Kins and the cloud is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Google CEO Eric Schmidt schmoozed some news about the next business of Apple’s they’re about to get all up in — an Android-based tablet competitor for the iPad. As reported in the New York Times [via Gizmodo]:

Eric E. Schmidt, chief executive of Google, told friends at a recent party in Los Angeles about the new device, which would exclusively run the Android operating system. People with direct knowledge of the project — who did not want to be named because they said they were unauthorized to speak publicly about the device — said the company had been experimenting in "stealth mode" with a few publishers to explore delivery of books, magazines and other content on a tablet.

Cue gPad jokes in 3… 2… Interestingly, Apple’s public frenemy number 1 — and occasional Steve Jobs coffee date — revealed right there that it won’t be running Google’s ChromeOS as anticipated, so the cloud-future once again suffers for the local, app-rich present. Given that Apple is closing the functionality gap with iPhone OS 4 (see our complete preview), and Google is closing the usability gap with Android 2.1 and FroYo, its going to a tight race. iPad a head-start, but so did iPhone…

Either way, we can’t wait to see what Apple introduces next February so we can see what Google will compete against next September! (We kid! We love the competition!)

Google readying Android gPad tablet to compete with iPad is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Photogene is one of the top selling photography apps for iPhone and now we have that same great editing power, plus more, in Photogene for iPad [$3.99 - iTunes link].

Editing images with Photogene for iPad is pleasurable. The big screen allows you to really see the changes and the tools provided by Photogene are easy and intuitive to use.

• Enhance photos with multiple color adjustment: adjust color levels, exposure, contrast, saturation or manipulate the RGB.
• Apply filters such as the sharpen or the pencil filter.
• Crop, straighten and rotate your image.
• Add fun effects like text balloons, frames or special filters.

I have encountered a few minor bugs when using Photogene for iPad, but I trust that these will be fixed in a future update.

To see Photogene for iPad in action, follow us after the break!

Quick Review: Photogene for iPad is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

If you’ve been using LogMeIn Ignition for iPhone, prepare to be blown away by the iPad version. LogMeIn Ignition for iPad [$29.99- iTunes Link]has essentially the same functionality as the iPhone, but is much faster.

LogMeIn is a free service (with paid options depending on what you want) that works on a Mac or PC. It allows you to remotely control another computer. LogMeIn Ignition brings that functionality to iPhone and iPad. You have full right and left-click support as well as most all of the other useful key functions such as your “F” keys and arrows keys. If performance is an issue, you have complete control from the settings screen to change resolution and color quality. I tend to use Compressed; it is a step above Black and White and allows for a faster refresh. You can also change how you navigate on screen. You have two choices: screen moves or mouse moves. I lean towards screen moves as that gives me the most speed when navigating. Pinch to zoom works like a charm and is blazingly fast.

Ready for the bonus? LogMeIn Ignition is a Universal app, so you buy once and you can use it on iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. For those that need a little extra power in their remote sessions, LogMeIn offers their Pro2 account which allows for even more flexibility such as copy/paste desktop sharing and remote printing between sessions. If you aren’t sure which works best for you, there is a handy comparison chart.

I can’t recommend LogMeIn Ignition enough. It’s come in very handy when having to access my home computer.. and even my Mother-In-Law’s PC for help. There are several VNC type of clients out there, but this one is fast, zero setup (compared to a VNC configuration) and has plans to meet your needs.

Check out the Video and Gallery after the break!

Quick Review: LogMeIn Ignition for iPad is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Reports are swirling around the internet that smartphone pioneer Palm is putting itself up for sale, with rumored suiters that include HTC and Lenovo.

After bringing in former Apple iPod lead Jon Rubinstein and members of Apple’s iPhone team, Palm went from an aging PalmOS platform to the ultra-modern webOS which leapfrogged other platforms in several key areas like multitasking, notifications, and social integration. Problems with timing and hardware, however, prevented them getting the traction they needed in the market and led to slower than expected sales.

While the idea of HTC H2D/EVO 4G level hardware no doubt brings drool to the mouth of every true geek, HTC getting a hold of Palm’s core mobile patent portfolio could radically equalize the relative positions in Apple’s infringement lawsuit.

Although typically left as a throw-away line at the end of blog posts (like we’re doing here, sorry!), the idea of Apple buying Palm is also interesting. They obviously have the cash (roughly 40 billion in the bank). Jokes could be made about Steve Jobs just wanting to get Ruby and those engineers back for the pleasure of firing them, but Palm’s patents are real and really important.

Apple probably wouldn’t have much use for webOS (neither would Microsoft or Google), however, so here’s hoping a company that wants webOS, that wants to continue driving it forward with great hardware and strong marketing, picks up Palm.

Apple needs the competition and so do we.

(And we’ll add our best wishes to everyone at Palm.)

[Bloomberg via PreCentral.net]

Palm up for sale — should Apple buy before HTC does? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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According to yet another claim of Steve Jobs replying to a customer email, Apple will no longer be offering updates to the original 2007 iPhone 2G, including iPhone OS 4.

The question:

Is Apple supporting/updating the iPhone 2G in the Future?

Cheers Niko

Steve Jobs’ answer:

"Sorry, no.

Sent from my iPhone"

Apple’s subscription accounting method for iPhone was said to allow for 2 years of free updates, including iPhone 2.0 in 2008 and iPhone 3.0 in 2009. Since that period is now over, we were left to wonder if Apple would charge for iPhone OS 4 (iPhone 4.0) in 2010 like they do for iPod touch updates, or just not provide it at all. If this email exchange is accurate, we have our answer.

What say you?

[Macstories via TechCrunch]

Did Steve Jobs just confirm no more updates for iPhone 2G? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Best of Smartphone Experts, 11 Apr 2010 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog