We’re in the middle of Apple’s special event, where Steve Jobs is showing off the much-anticipated iPad for the first time (yes, that name is now official). And judging by one photo captured during the presentation, it looks like the device won’t support Flash. As Jobs showed off the iPad’s browsing capabilities, Engadget captured a photo of the tell-tale blue missing plugin icon that shows up when you try viewing a Flash element without the plugin installed.
Whether or not the Tablet would support has been a topic of extensive debate. The iPhone has never supported Flash, and Apple has never done anything to indicate that it would be coming out any time in the near future (in fact, their strategy appears to involve moving away from the ubiquitous plugin). With that in mind, the iPad’s lack of Flash support comes as no surprise. But the device features browsing as a key element, and there are going to be plenty of people trying to access their casual Flash games and Flash-based video sites, only to be met with that frustrating icon.
It’s still possible that the Tablet could support a limited version of Flash that simply didn’t support that piece of content on the New York Times website, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up. We’ll update this post if Jobs says anything more about Flash support during the presentation.
More coverage can be found here.
The Apple iPad, formerly referred to as the Apple Tablet, is a touch-pad tablet computer announced in January 2010, and released in April 2010. It has internet capabilities running on either WiFi or 3G, and offers an optional dock with a full size mechanical keyboard. The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc. primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. Its size and...
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