Skyfire for iPhone 'sells out' in App Store

Mobile web solutions developer Skyfire sold out inventory of its Flash Video-enabled browser for Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone within five hours of the solution's App Store launch. While the firm continues to increase capacity, for the time being it is not accepting new Skyfire for iPhone purchases, stressing that the measure is only temporary and that Apple did not remove the application from the App Store. Skyfire did not state when it expects the $2.99 iPhone browser to return to the storefront, saying only it will resume sales "in the near future."

Skyfire for iPhone allows consumers to finally run Adobe Flash-based content on their iOS-based smartphones, working around the operating system's restrictions on the Flash runtime by translating video content in the HTML5 web standard; the browser then displays a thumbnail that iPhone users can click to stream the clip from Skyfire's servers. Skyfire first submitted the browser for App Store approval on Sept. 1--last month, the firm said it made several minor adjustments to the software in response to Apple submission feedback, with a focus on meeting all guidelines related to HTML5 video streaming. The startup notes Skyfire for iPhone was built in accordance with Apple guidelines, leveraging a WebKit browser core shared with Safari as well as h.264 adaptive streaming.

While Apple has consistently stated it will not support Flash-based web content on devices running the iOS operating system, in September the computing giant eased restrictions on iOS developers, enabling them to design and build apps in Flash, then convert their efforts to Apple-approved code.

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