The battle between Apple and Adobe Systems over the iPad maker banning Flash technology from its tablet device, iPod touch, and iPhone is escalating. After Apple changed its iPhone OS developer’s license to bar developers from using Flash to develop apps, Adobe cited Apple in its corporate filing.
In the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Adobe put the risk of Apple excluding Flash technology under its “risk factors” heading.
“To the extent new releases of operating systems or other third-party products, platforms or devices, such as the Apple iPhone or iPad, make it more difficult for our products to perform, and our customers are persuaded to use alternative technologies, our business could be harmed,” Adobe wrote in the filing.
Adobe Pulls in the Government
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. But even though Adobe is on other platforms, the company seems concerned about its ability to compete.
“Apple’s platform increasingly has become more important and more relevant to consumers over time. But this SEC filing is certainly taking the lack of support for Flash on Apple’s platforms to the next level,” said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group.
“This looks like the beginning of asking for government intervention,” he said. “Clearly, Adobe is ratcheting up the rhetoric, both in terms of speech and actions. How the government will perceive this or act on this is something that will have to be played out over time.”
Who’s the Loser?
As Gartenberg sees it, Adobe’s SEC filing underscores, from Adobe’s perspective, how important Apple’s platform is. Others think Apple may be the big loser in Jobs’…