Who needs Flash? Apparently, Apple doesn’t think it needs the Adobe multimedia platform that lets developers add animation and other interactive features to web sites. The company has issued a list of what it is calling “iPad-ready web sites” that don’t demand Flash to perform.
“iPad features Safari, a mobile web browser that supports the latest web standards — including HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript,” Apple’s web site says. Apple then lists a few of the many sites it says are taking advantage of those standards to deliver content that “looks and functions beautifully on iPad.”
Those sites include mostly newspapers, magazines and broadcasters. CNN, Reuters, The New York Times, Vimeo, Time, Major League Baseball, The White House, Virgin America, People magazine, and Flickr are among the sites listed as ready for iPad. Apple also offers webmasters the opportunity to submit their site to the “growing list.”
“This is Apple’s way of demonstrating that its has evangelized e-content partners to create sites that will work just fine on the iPad. It’s a way of reassuring consumers that may have any issues over the missing Flash that it’s not a particularly big problem,” said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group. “And it underscores the fact that there’s not likely to be Flash on this device any time soon.”
Apple’s Competitors Get Flashy
Apple CEO Steve Jobs decided not to include Flash support in the iPad, insulting Adobe Systems and opening the door for the software maker to find partners to rival Apple in tablets. Since then, Apple has seen competitors try to take advantage of its stance.
Hewlett-Packard Vice President and CTO Phil McKinney, for example, wrote a blog post about HP’s upcoming iPad competitor in March that promised no watered-down Internet and no sacrifices. The blog was accompanied by a video demonstration of HP’s tablet computer…