By: Michael Boucher

So I've been meaning to write some posts related to experiences I've had and things I've read as they relate to the iPhone. However, I never actually got around to it. With the latest news out of the Adobe camp, as reported by Wallstreet Journal and CNN, regarding the development of a Flash Player for the iPhone has stirred up some old feelings, which at this point can no longer be ignored. So with that said I'm going to combine into one post.

Adobe's announcement to start development on a Flash Player for the iPhone after the release of the iPhone SDK shows that there was zero coordination between Apple and Adobe on this. Adobe was afforded the same privileges as Joe Developer, who was first given some HTML, some JavaScript and a Safari browser and told "there's your SDK so go forth and make some apps." Fortunately, after numerous complaints and tons of pressure from community, Apple finally gave in and released an official SDK. Why not right? I mean 14 year olds the world over where "jailbreaking" the iPhone and installing whatever they wanted and using whatever service provider they wanted. This put Steve Job's hopes and dreams of the iPhone being immune to malware in jeopardy, not to mention Apple's control over the iPhone platform all together. Everybody started "jailbreaking" their iPhone once the dock and click "jailbreak" solution came to light. I'm sure everybody over at Apple was up in arms, running through the halls and screaming "it's pure anarchy out there!"

So back on point, why didn't Apple coordinate with Adobe to create an iPhone compatible player? Apple was able to convince video giant YouTube to convert half of their inventory over to H.264 video so the iPhone could play videos normally served up in a Flash based video player. Seems to me Apple chose the path of most resistance, or at least the path that required the most effort. Makes you think that Apple didn't want Flash on the iPhone and wanted to try to push Quicktime down everybody's throats once again. This became somewhat apparent, or at least suspect, from the disappearing act performed by the Flash content on the Apple web site.

I recently read a quote attributed to Steve Jobs, essentially blaming Adobe for not offering a product in-between Flash and Flash Lite. Well, wouldn't it have made sense that Apple, who is pioneering this next generation phone, a phone like no other phone ever released would coordinate to make this happen? Why would Adobe have a Flash Player specific for the iPhone when the only person that knew anything about the iPhone was Steve Jobs? There was no market for it before the iPhone. So to blame them for not developing the "Goldylocks" Flash Player is ridiculous. Nice attempt at covering up the fact that iPhone was rushed to be first to market, consumers were foiled by the "glitz and glamour" of the multi-touch screen and the dull roar of "it's a phone, it's the internet, it's email, it's a camera, it's an iPod, it's everything you never knew you needed."

So this brings me to the points I never got around to posting about before. If you were only here to read about the Flash Player, this is probably a good time to leave. If you are trying to kill some time and open to the possibility of being a bit entertained, read on.

It's ALMOST the Internet.

With the absence of the Flash Player in the Safari browser a lot of content, mostly media, is cut off from the iPhone. I mean, come on Flash Player is the #1 plug-in and media player on the web and almost as many people that have browsers have Flash Player. Which essentially means that if you use the internet, you view Flash content in one form or another. Do I expect to view 2Advanced.com on my iPhone, not really but I'd like to be able to use apps such as Google Analytics. I don't want hybrid sites that use a Flash header to be rendered useless (yes, the designer of the site should have practiced better techniques to accommodate the lowest-common-denominator). That aside, without Flash Player and without 3G, iPhone is merely ALMOST the internet.

It's ALMOST an iPod.

With the absence of Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP) support from the iPhone as well as no support for using it as an external disk so I can transfer my non-iTunes music over to another computer. This essentially classifies the iPhone as almost an iPod. You mean to tell me this revolutionary new phone is missing some of the basic features?

It's ALMOST E-mail

Who the "ehph" designed the iPhone's e-mail client? Obviously whoever it was has solved the great SPAM dilemma and doesn't receive any e-mails they wish to delete. I have to "slide and delete" every e-mail I want to delete one ... by ... one? Every e-mail client since 1994 has had a multiple delete. What makes this even more painstaking is the fact that the iPhone only displays X number of e-mails at a time (25,50,100, ...). So as I delete 10 SPAM messages another 10 older messages come in while I'm locked in mid delete. So now I have 8 more SPAM messages to delete but at least that really important e-mail that got pushed off my iPhone by the onslaught of junk I receive will be back ... soon? Burn bamboo under my fingernails please and get me out of delete hell!!! I don't even bother anymore. iPhone e-mail client is useless. Hopefully with the release of the SDK somebody will come up with a better solution in the event Steve Jobs and crew slept on this update. Hey thanks guys for allowing me to estimate within a 10 mile radius where I am on Google maps.

It's ALMOST a Phone

MMS, what's that? Apple prides itself, to the point of almost boasting, on how "creative" their products make their users. Nice I can take a picture with my phone but can't send it to anybody else's phone. And recieving MMS, who needs that? I mean if somebody is taking a picture with a "not-an-iPhone-phone" the picture isn't worth viewing anyway right? I mean those pesky Nokia and LG users are all business.

Are you kidding me? My wife got the "$10 after mail-in rebate" phone and she has 3G and MMS. A friend of mine got one of those iPhone clones through his service provider and he has stereo Bluetooth.

It's ALMOST a Warranty.

So not only did I pay WAY too much for half the phone I expected to get, the warranty on this thing obviously only covers that red wire that you will never see because cleaning the screen of your iPhone without the express written permission from Steve Jobs himself voids your warranty. Hell, just mentioning that red wire just voided mine. No wait, it was the fact that some how, mysteriously the screen of my iPhone cracked. I didn't drop it and it was in my coat pocket when I removed it and saw the spider web on the screen and nearly died from my heart jumping out of my chest. Now before I start getting all the comments about how an iPhone was dropped from the moon at which point it bounced 12,346 times before being run over by a Zamboni then used as the puck through 3 periods of NHL action and it didn't have a mark on it, realize that only proves my point. Something was wrong that would caused my screen to crack under normal usage. I racked my brain trying to figure out what I might have done to crack the screen. I wasn't twirling my jacket around doing the helicopter, accidentally smashing it into a concrete pillar. I wasn't shot in the chest or hit in the chest for that matter. I didn't fall. I didn't drop my phone or my jacket. I was coming up empty on what might have happened in that two hours since I last pulled it out of my pocket.

So frantic I went online to and did a search on "cracked iPhone screen" and found numerous posts, articles and other tidbits about how people's iPhones were abused, everything from being dropped to being crushed by a recliner. These people said they brought their phones into the Apple store and were given a replacement or had it repaired under warranty. A sigh of relief.

He's ALMOST a Genius.

I got off work and ran over to the Apple store, walked up to the "Genius Bar" only to realize these people actually take their job title WAY too seriously. I handed the guy my iPhone, he looked at it and then looked at me with a stupid look. You know that one that says, "First you don't look like a Mac user. Secondly, I know you aren't going to try to claim this under warranty." I knew i was in trouble at this point. I explained what I knew about the tragedy and told this "genius" that I don't know how the screen cracked. His only response was, "well I don't know how it cracked either. I don't know if you dropped it, threw it or hit i with a hammer." He then proceeded to tell me that for 2/3 the cost of my phone he could replace the screen. Now mind you, during my search I saw screens being sold for a little over $100.00 with the caveat that if you do it yourself the warranty is null and void. So, if the warrantly doesn't cover the screen which is essentially 90% of the phone, what does it cover? Come to find out in further conversation, merely having the cracked screen voided my warranty, whether I replace it, a Mac Genius replaces it or I leave it as is. My warrantly is void. So before I blew my top and was forced by a higher court to buy 100 broken iMacs I decided to leave the store with my broken phone in one hand and what I had left of my hard earned dollars in my other. Yes, my screen is still cracked. I found a video that shows how to take the iPhone apart to replace the screen, you'll notice their is no video on how to put the iPhone back together. That leads me to believe that part of the video didn't go so well.

So there you have it. iPhone lacks some of the basic features that consumers expect in a phone, iPod, internet, e-mail and such. iPhone SDK has been released which will hopefully plug those holes in Apple's game. Adobe is stepping up to the plate to pick up in one area where Apple failed to deliver. My iPhone screen is cracked, warranty is voided and I see a nice long article about my adventures into the mysterious underbelly of the iPhone and turning things into a really expensive paper weight. No way is Apple getting anothr $250 from me though. Good times!

FLAME ON!!!