Apple had no transition plan when it created the iPad

It is 2013, and the iPad still cannot be used to access some of the best websites in the world. The mobile revolution in computing is here, but we can’t fully take advantage of it. Education as we know it will change when (a) every teacher supplements their teaching with high quality, engaging instructional materials, and when (b) every student has a mobile device to access those materials and lessons.

And this is where Apple has let us down. The iPad cannot access many valuable video resources because it does not run Flash, which is needed to run nearly half the videos available on the Internet. Apple decided to wait for the next generation of video players to arrive. Unfortunately, we are ALL waiting for that moment to arrive.

Flash is used on computers and other devices to run video, animations, simulations and games. Three years ago Flash was the standard in Internet video playback. So why did Apple reject Flash? The main reason is that running Flash can cut the battery life of an iPad in half from ten hours to five hours. Flash uses extra power to run videos, and mobile devices are built to use as little power as possible.

What is the replacement for Flash? It is called HTML5, which will soon be the common standard for creating web pages. HTML5 allows videos and animations to be built right into the system which uses less power. It is a key component of the next generation of the Internet and it will make online content available on cell phones, tablets, computers, and pretty much anything else that can access the Internet. HTML5 is the future... it just has not arrived yet. Similar to how DVDs still outsell Blu-Ray discs ten years after the Blu-Ray arrived, websites built on Flash are still out there and will remain for years to come.

HTML5 is the new standard for building web pages, but it will not become the official standard until 2014. That’s still one year away! Some web designers are ahead of the curve and have already begun to create pages using HTML5, but more than 1/3 of all pages being created today are not using HTML5. You also have to take into account all of the websites that were built before today - many of them will need to be converted to HTML5. Some will never be converted. It takes time and it takes money to re-write those web pages - a LOT of time and money. Companies can handle the cost, but not the physics teacher who built an awesome website used by hundreds of thousands of people. He has content - great content - but he does not have the time to rewrite his entire site.

Apple is not a content provider (unless you include iTunes, which is not affected by a new Internet standard). It did not cost Apple money or disrupt their practices by switching to HTML5. They had no skin in the game by forcing an end to Flash on mobile devices. The problem I have with Apple is that they had no transition plan. Yes, Flash was going to go away. Yes, HTML5 was going to be the new standard. But what was the plan for getting from A to B? There was no plan.

Apple could have done two things to help make the transition from Flash to HTML5 smoother. First, they could have adopted Flash. Yes, they could have but chose not to. The battery life on an iPad would be cut to five hours, but isn’t five hours still better than the life of a laptop battery? Of course it is. Second, Apple could have developed their own app for delivering Flash content on the iPad. They could have built their own work-around. How many times have you heard someone say, “there’s an app for that!” Well, where’s the app that runs Flash?

Some mobile devices handle Flash including the Nexus 7 and the Microsoft Surface. It shows that we do have a choice for buying a device other than the iPad. So if Apple won’t choose to allow a Flash-like experience on their device, then we (as consumers and teachers) need to consider choosing another device that can meet all of our needs.

It’s now been three years since Apple declared Flash to be a product of the past, and it will be at least one more year until the future fully arrives. Four years without a plan for bridging the gap. That’s where my disappointment lies. Apple makes a great product, but it could have been better if they listened to their customers.  While the benefits of the iPad outweigh its detractions, it could have been better. We'll wait and see what the iPad5 brings.

Apple helped kill off Flash a little too soon

The biggest complaint about the iPad is that it does not run Adobe's Flash, which is used to display videos and animation on the Internet.  Steve Jobs called Flash an old technology in 2010 and said the iPad would never support Flash.  Unfortunately, millions of web pages still use Flash, so if you are a teacher who wants to watch some really great educational videos with your students then you're in for a bad experience.  There are some apps (like Rover) for the iPad that try to run Flash, but they are unreliable and buggy.

So if Flash is part of the past, then what is the future of videos on the Internet?  It is called HTML5, and there is no doubt that it will be the format developers use moving forward.  Apple, Microsoft, Google, and just about everybody else is supporting this standard.

But when will HTML5 actually arrive?  It is available right now, but it has not been fully embraced yet.  The first television broadcasting station started in 1928, but televisions weren't really popular until the 1950s.  Blu-ray officially arrived in 2006, but DVDs still outsell Blu-ray six years later.  The claim that Flash is "dead" isn't entirely accurate considering Flash use still far exceeds HTML5 use.  Flash is a goner, I agree, but not yet.

Until HTML5 becomes part of the mainstream, should we worry that the iPad will not be the amazing product it could be until it that day?  Gartner reported that HTML5 will not be officially adopted as a standard until 2014, and that it could take between 5 and 10 years from now until it is fully embraced (like the television and Blu-ray examples above).  I don't believe it will take ten years or even five.  I do believe it will take three years, though, which means the freshman walking into school today will not truly take advantage of their iPads until they are seniors.  That worries me.

Until those old videos run on the iPad then we will continue to be frustrated.  I know no one at Apple will change their mind about using Flash, and I also know that HTML5 is on the way.  The future is coming... eventually. I am really hoping that until we see full adoption of HTML5 that better apps arrive to run Flash videos on an iPad, and I hope that developers are willing to work backwards to convert their web pages to HTML5 as quickly as possible.