Skyfire submits Flash-capable browser to iPhone App Store

Browser vendor Skyfire said it submitted its Web rendering offering to Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) App Store, and is awaiting the iPhone vendor's approval. If approved, Skyfire's browser could allow iPhone users to view Flash content.

The news is notable in light of Apple CEO Steve Jobs' high-profile snubbing of Adobe's Flash technology. In an open letter, Jobs explained that Apple hasn't added Flash to its portable devices, including the iPhone and the iPad, because he said the technology doesn't perform well on mobile devices lacking powerful processors, and that it also gobbles battery life. Adobe executives have argued that Apple won't support the company's Flash video-display technology for competitive reasons.

Recently, the issue has blown up into a line in the sand between Apple and other device vendors. Indeed, Android vendor Google recently pushed Adobe's Flash player through its Android Market, thereby allowing devices running Android 2.2 to view Flash content.

For its part, Skyfire argues its approach to displaying Flash content addresses Jobs' concerns.

"Skyfire for iPhone was built in tight accordance to Apple guidelines, including the use of a WebKit browser core shared with Safari, and h.264 adaptive streaming. Skyfire's famed cloud-computing technology translates Flash video on the fly from millions of websites into HTML5 formats, and supports iOS devices via Apple's HTTP live streaming standard," Skyfire wrote on its company blog. "By optimizing Flash for iPhones and network conditions in the cloud, Skyfire improves performance and maximizes battery life while playing video. The browser also avoids alternate runtime environments and other security vulnerabilities."

Interestingly, Skyfire also said its cloud-based technology represents "an advantage for AT&T" by compressing video data by an average of 75 percent, thereby "easing the network congestion that has caused user complaints in major metropolitan areas."

Skyfire currently offers its browser service to Windows Mobile, Android and Symbian devices. The company in April said it hoped to get into Apple's App Store, following Opera's successful entrance into the storefront.

Opera reported that more than one million iPhone users worldwide downloaded Opera Mini in its first day of release. Skyfire said it notched "nearly a million" downloads in its first three months of availability on Google's Android platform.

It's worth noting, however, that Skyfire's browser won't be the first method for viewing Flash content on iPhones. For example, the Cloud Browse application plays Flash on iPhones through remote viewing technology.

For more:
- see this Skyfire post
- see this VentureBeat article

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