Anything NOT under their thumb is no good, the pattern is clear enough.

They want to build a platform without sharing it. It is only a matter before they get a slap on the hand.

Are there any chances to the Web to become HTML-"only" again? The only real reason to keep Flash that I see is that webmasters use it in the first page of their websites to please the chairman (and annoy his clients in the process, specially when there isn't a "skip intro" link).

Well I think we can live without websites jumping in our faces, but what I really fear is the return of the freaking awful JAVA APPLETS!

Cause he was most likely refering to porting Flash Lite 2, the same version many other phones have. This is not browser integrated either...

However, while they can develop this for sure, they still need Apple's permission to put it on the iPhone, cause the only way it's gonna get on there is through the Apple store or jailbreaking your phone. 

Having a Flash player means content developers could bypass apple's little store, and run any flash content they want (including applications in direct competition with Apple).

The same goed for all Sun's talk about putting Java on the iPhone.

It's not that these companies don't know this, it's all PR. They want to make Apple (and mighty Steve himself) look like the bad guy when they'll refuse to accept their platforms on his jesus phone, hoping he might cave in.. but probably only with a compromise (where Java and Flash applications will have to be pre-approved by Steve just like regular applications)

So does this mean apple prefers the MS alternative? Or are they secretly making their own incarnation of a flash-like pest?