For the money, I am extremely disappointed in Apple. I want Flash and the ability to use all the Internet! Steve jobs or someone, provide an alternative, do it now or my next tablet will be HP and I won't recommend Apple. And that's sad because I have been an Apple fan beginning with the Apple ll GS.

I'VE GOT IPAD AND IPHONE AS WELL AS AN IMAC AND A PC DESKTOP AND PC LAPTOP. NOT BIAS ABOUT ANY PRODUCT OR COMPANY, AS I'M NOT SO CHILDISH TO MAKE THIS OUT TO BE A WAR... ITS JUST COMPANIES DEVELOPING PRODUCTS... GROW UP PEOPLE! WHY ALL THE CAMP DRAMA - YOU ALL MAKE IT OUT TO BE LIKE AN EPISODE OF DYNASTY! LOL
(AND THEN THEY SAY WOMEN LIKE TO GOSSIP!)

STEVE JOBS MUST BE LOVING ALL THIS HYPE YOURE GIVING HIM. I THINK TO CALL HIM A DICTATOR IS SO FUNNY.. ITS VERY BITCHY AND LAUGHABLE.. I THINK YOU NEED TO LOOK UP THE WORD.

FLASH ISNT GREAT. ADOBE - MAKE IT BETTER AND BEAT THESE ISSUES, OR SOMEONE ELSE MAKE SOMETHING NEWER AND BETTER. EITHER WAY, LETS ALL STOP WHINGING ABOUT IT.

SIMPLE.

Since Microsoft launched the Tablet PC design in 2001, running Windows XP (although the Compaq TC1000, for instance, seems to have shown up only late in 2002), there have been Flash-running tablets around at least since then.

Before that there was a Windows for Pen, or Pen for Windows, or something, but I'll skip looking it up.

I bought an iPad for my mom, she's 74 years old. It's a great little computer for older people who don't want to even know they are on a computer. It has nice big icons too! I don't think she even knows she's missing Flash.

I'll agree with most of your points except to say that Flash is nowhere near as bad as people claim. A lot of the issues with Flash are the legions of lousy, minimally skilled programmers writing much of what's on the web. This is NOT to say Flash is perfect. Far from it and Adobe's lack of attention to it's problems is simply asinine for a company of that stature.

You are absolutely right. The iPad is a toy as are most of Apple's products. Some of us fanboys do know hyperbole when we read it. But the truth is Adobe Flash is crappy software whether or not Steve Jobs says so. No-one will miss Flash once it's gone. The idea that Apple missed some opportunity to include Adobe's adware on their mobile products, when they can't get it to run well on anything is absurd.

I don't know which is more entertaining, the Journalism critic wanna-bes, who wouldn't get the point if you poked them with it, or the Apple fanboys (Read mouth breather) frothing at the mouth at the thought that someone might not like Apple products or have their own opinion.

To Flash or not to Flash is NOT the question. Why people can't recognize cheeky, sarcastic, humorous reporting for what it is, is the question. I really don't think some of you would know a joke if it sat in your lap and called you Mamma.

As for the MACTards, they need no explanation or comment. They just are. Like matter and energy.

Nuff said. You can return to your regularly scheduled flame war.

Apple fans don't need to be so thin-skinned. A toy is a toy. You don't need to worship it and you don't have to go all apple-jihad about it.

sheez...

If you don't want to run on a toy tablet and need to get some serious Farmville business done on a mobile touchscreen, just buy a tablet that runs Flash. Simple.

Oh! That's right. No-one has Flash running on a tablet yet. Mean old Apple is somehow stalling Adobe's vaporware!

I'm not gonna speak for anyone else here..actually I am, I think that I can say that a large majority of us iPad users are not AT ALL annoyed with the lack of flash support. This is a misguiding article, cause the facts don't even point to us being annoyed. I don't know what ur smoking... Cause we have not missed..or even noticed the absent of flash on this device. If anything, it's been a breathe of fresh air not having it. Almost nothing is actually in flash anymore I noticed I see everything I want to on the web on my iPad, cause everyone knows it sucks..except for a few lazy web site owners who are to lazy to fix their site. And the most annoying thing about it not having flash is to have to put up with articles like this posted up everywhere..most likely by people who don't even have an iPad so they really have no idea what they're talking about..like the bloke who wrote this article. This article pisses me off now. Inquirer seriously needs to not hire retards to do their journalism.. If that's what u want to call this

You apple user's will buy anything from Apple no matter what it is. Bunch of idiots.

IDC GEMINI.. GET YOUR MONEIES WORTH

To the idiot that says quality control is important. If that's true. Why was apple's fix for the terrible wifi connection to get closer to the router. Why were some reports of people with over heating issues. Why were there reports of ipads crashing. You DUMB ASS Apple fans would buy Steve Jobs turd if you could and make a excuse as to why you bought. The ipad was nothing more then a marketing ploy to see HOW MUCH customers will pay for HOW LITTLE PRODUCT...and you idiots bought into it.
IDC GEMINI...Look at it for a real tablet.

http://280slides.com/ Is built on Objective J.
Objective J makes it quite easy to build many different types of desktop class applications that will run on any web browser without fussing over plugins.

These applications also don't need any of the new features of HTML5, its just easier with than without.

Flash may be faster at some things ( at least on Windows! )

but for all those who didn't believe one could make applications just with HTML + JS look at

http://280slides.com/

peace

im laughing my .... off at some of these comments. do you really think apple give a flying donkey that they upset outdated, no excuse for a lie windows users.

Jobs is driving all the way to the bank with all of his products, thats why he manages to sell 1 million ipads in 28 days..!!!! come on guys, those of you who post these comments seriously need to buy an apple product and ...king... use one.!!

I moved from pc to mac, and was the best swap i ever did. i cannot remember my 8 month old macbook pro ever crashing, checking an email database for consistency, NOT RESPONDING! how many more irritating things can i carry on with.

Apple have one thing going for them and that is a british designer behind all of their products. They are making mega money, their marketing is so good, and every product they bring out, they sell tons of.

Good luck to Jobs and his crew. my preorder is in for the ipad, its a quality piece of engineering, and deserves it spot as number 1 product of 2010.

Keep up coming

Great Article. I considered buying a iPad but the lack of Flash and lack of the ability to print is stopping me. I already have an iphone that is missing those two things. Don't get me wrong, I love my iphone but it is annoying not being able to access certain sites. So I have a hard time believing anyone who says they are not annoyed. How can you not be?

This story and its argument is a non-starter. With or without Flash, Apple can't produce their iDevices quickly enough to meet demand. Nice problem, if you can get it.

In a recent poll, 91% if iPad owners polled reported being satisfied with the iPad. Most users wouldn't know what Flash is if it gummed-up their system or degraded battery life.

Fact is, "lack of Flash support" is true about virtually every mobile device since Flash has yet to release a version that's even adequate for mobile devices. So, are all these disgruntled folks angry at Apple for banning Flash from its mobile devices? Or they angry with Adobe for taking more than three years to even announce a serviceable product for mobile products?

Bottom line is it doesn't matter, since Apple customers, if indeed they do complain about "lack of Flash support," are still purchasing iDevices, so much so, that Apple has the luxury of criticizing a product that so many people whine is crucial to their Web experience.

Nonsense. Microsoft will not have in-browser support for either Flash or Silverlight in WinMo 7 and, unless Adobe gives a strong showing with Flash 10.1 for mobile devices, then they can kiss their Flash good-bye.

tcpinckney@gmail.com sorry. Flame away you apptards. I am ready to school you.

Great article!

Apple is going to be so kicking themselves in the butt soon:

1. No Flash support (Adobe and Google are getting tight now because Flash is everywhere).

2. No VP8 support (see Google, VP8 video playback codecs)

3. No Blue-tooth support except for Apple approved devices

4. No USB/Keyboard/Photo uploading without additional Apple add-ons

5. No Phone compatibility (LOL, a big iPhone minus the phone)

6. No Expandable memory. Nope, no SD card slots or anything

7. Cant print (well maybe if you have a wireless printer hub, oh wait, you still need a device driver :(

God, i could go on forever, and you Apple cool-aid drinkers, I challenge you to tell me one thing that iPhad does that is new and different. Extra points for proving the feature is magical. tpinckney@gmail.com. I dare thee.

Almost every page says "Install Flash Player". Very annoying after paying $500+ essentially for Internet. You'd think there would be something else available from Apple right now before Apple would bash Adobe. You bash them but have no available alternative. Not very smart IMO. I agree with the author. I may sell mine after the new feel wears off. Just a big phoneless iPhone with no flash.

Funny how people say flash isn't needed but you really can't access the Internet in it's true form and have no alternative to it. Your letting someone tell you what you can use and can't. iPhone JUST got copy & paste not to long ago. Are you kidding me ? All my sites don't work ie. Nike.com etc. What an alternative to that ? Steve Snobbs just wants to make the consumer wait until his group of nerds get the Apple Flash going which will be probably be 5 years all the while trying to turn the industry against Flash to use his garbage. Next he'll start an Apple Cell Phone Carrier. I feel sorry for you lame Apple fanboys who can't think for yourself and jump on any new trend to feel "IN". LOL. I don't want my iPod to ring. Long story short I preordered my Evo 4G on the 14th. I want to be able to put what I want on my phone not have someone tell me what I can do after spending all that $. I would be a puppet and Apple would control the strings. Not happnin. Like Morpheas said " Free your mind ..." until there's an alternative to Flash right now for apple devices to play flash content then flash is very much needed plain an simple.

You gotta love all the Apple bashing posts...I mean seriously, Jobs has been called just about every name in the book by the posters on here...It would lead one to believe that Jobs and Apple may very well be the dumbest group of bumbling idiots walking the earth despite the fact that they will gross nearly $60 billion this year...Quite a feat for a bunch of idiots...

You critics must surely be more successful and far more knowledgeable than all of Apples talent combined...

So tell me Oh wise ones...What have you done in life that comes anywhere near what Jobs has done? And seriously, the brown streaks in your boxers, are not considered an accomplishment..

You set this site up to look like it will contain some form of journalism. Apparently it doesn't. The first rule of good journalism is objectivity, a quality totally lacking in this article.

You had the opportunity to present some research that questions Apple's Flash decision but you chose to totally devalue it with childish ignorance, bigotry and name calling.

You're entitled to have your personal opinions about Apple, or any other company, in fact, I agree with some of them. However, don't try to dress it up as news.

You're every bit as bad as the starry-eyed Apple fan boys who ignorantly deride all Microsoft technology as inferior and plagiarised.

HTML5 is years away from being a replacement for Flash.

The best web applications today are built in Flash/Flex/SilverLight. This will continue because there is simply no way that HTML5 can be used as an alternative.

I hope the FTC can set this in order and force Apple to allow Flash! like Microsoft was forced to allow Netscape on its OS back in the 90's. Free market, free choices. Closed systems are not good.

"Given that over 80 per cent of respondents in the report claim to use their Ipads for web browsing and almost 50 per cent for viewing video, areas in which Flash is particularly pervasive, it's not surprising that users find lack of support for the format annoying."

Actually give that 80 percent use it for that purpose, it's surprisingly only 11% complained about Flash.

So this is what the enquirer has come to? Purposely, and blatantly trying to twist articles to say the exact opposite? Unreal. Goodbye final bit of credibility....

OH...and saying something isn't revolutionary because it's used to surf the web...like..a COMPUTER....ugh. How stupid do they think we are?

When you read this article you get the sense that the Changewave study cited reveals that iPad owners are up in arms over the absence of Flash on their devices.

But click on the "Changewave" link provided in the second paragraph and read the actual article by Paul Carton, Director of Research, ChangeWave Research. You get a very different sense from that article: it seems people are really happy with their iPads (74% are very satisfied) and more people are interested in getting one now than ever before.

Which leads me to conclude one thing: Lawrence Latif is an idiot.

Ryan got it right.
Flash may be hated by some people, but it's a necessary piece of the web.
It's critical in the interactive web, there's only so much java and php can do.

AS for HTML5, it's like taking a step backwards. You can't be anywhere near as interactive with it, sure it'd be great for Youtube and streaming, but it isn't yet.

You cant make interactive games, stream music, or simply make applications with an HTML5 standard. It's a little bit silly suggesting it as a replacement.

Also, @notflashharry, I don't use flash on my smartPHONE either, I have a laptop for that. But for a device that supposedly replaces netbooks and laptops, it's simply not an option to say you are getting the full web experience. Especially when there is so much content restricted by this draconian exclusion.

And flash is buggy, no shit. Don't overload it and don't run it on crappy hardware. Everything is buggy, PHP crashes, Java too. If you really want to live in bubble wrap, sign over your life savings to the Apple fund, and be enclosed in the blanket...

In the 1980s BMW has a major problem with reliability. These bleeding-edge cars were finicky and tended to fall out of tune very quickly. There would be mysterious failures where the engine would just stop working for no apparent reason. The stereotype was of people having to get their cars shipped all the way back to Bavaria to have the factory engineers diagnose the problems.

Had those cars been run-of-the-mill (read: cheap) North American cars they'd have been (rightly) derided as lemons. Since, however, the people buying their BMWs had spent a LOT more money on their cars than the common folk, they couldn't admit they'd overspent on a lemon. Instead they turned the unreliability into a virtue and called the cars "temperamental" (as if they were fine race horses instead of mechanical devices).

I leave drawing the parallels between 1980s BMWs' owners and Apple Cultists as an exercise for the student.

Since I don't play Farmville, I don't miss Flash at all. Neither do most iPad owners.
This is a poor excuse for reporting by someone with little creativity.

See Steve Jobs telling the truth about Flash(for once)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4KUk1jrDVU

Flash isn't bad in itself - it's the way people (over)use it that is. People will soon be able to create rudimentary crappy banner ads and other junk in HTML5.

Like others have said if I want to switch Flash on or off it should be my choice not Apples. There again it is - I won't buy any more of their overpriced (but yeah they look nice) products.

I have been running iPhone for nearly 2 years and the number of times no flash has been a problem is so trivial I can't even think of one example where it mattered. so meh.

Re camera in iPad - why the fuck does anyone want a camera the size of a magazine? Use your phone, dummies. Jesus.

Apple charges for content that you can find elsewhere for free. The reason the do not want people to have Flash is purely a financial decision. They don't want you watching videos online, they want you to purchase all of your content through iTunes.

No thanks.

My 3 year old MacBook Pro runs Flash perfectly. It's not a technical problem.

Apple, PLEASE put Flash on the iPad! The internet is useless without it!

Flash is nothing more than a resource hogging advertisement platform. One of the main reasons I like Firefox on my Macbook Pro is the extension known as Flashblock.

Thank you for posting this. Hundreds of thousands of iPad owners agree with you 100%. The iPad sucks without Flash.

I have an iPad, and am most definitely annoyed at how most websites do not show up correctly due to Apple's lack of Flash support. The iPad web experience is very static. I don't know how they can get away with selling a product that is so broken out-of-the-box.

Flash is awesome for interactive content, I don't know why some people dislike it. I've never had any issues with it on either my mac or my PC.

I like on the Ford website how I can select different colors and trim for my vehicle and see it on the actual car. I like zooming in on my stocks on my broker's website. I like being able to stream music online without having to pay $.99 for it. I like websites where you can click on a picture and make it do something. You can't do cool stuff like that with HTML5, and yes - I'm annoyed at how it doesn't display correctly on the device.

The following examples are a small snapshot of websites that do not show up correctly on the iPad:

- Any website with interactive Flash content (90% of the web)
- Front page of Yahoo (videos do not show up)
- "Build your vehicle" interactivity on any automakers website (come on Apple, I'm shopping for a car - what do you have to gain by blocking access to this???)
- Hulu
- Fox videos
- South park videos (episodes can be streamed for free online, yet Apple charges $49.99 for seasons on iTunes!)
- Any other website with streaming video
- Google Finance stocks (graphs & charts do not show up)
- Viewing contacts in Gmail
- Facebook (Chat function doesn't work, videos do not play)
- The videos on my local newspaper website
- Any website that uses animation
- Myspace music
- Any porn website

Can't wait until Google comes out with an Android tablet with Flash support!

Well, considering the survey only asked 153 new iPad owners, at 11% that would mean only 16-17 actually reported missing flash.

However, I'm not sure 153 people is a representative sample to even make this survey valid.

I wanted to like the iPad but it really does nothing that I can not already do with my 3 year old notebook and it is far wimpier than even an older device. I will keep my notebook and my Blackberry.The iPad is cute but still it does in fact seem like a phoneless iPhone without a phone or a camera. I am sure they will fix the camera thing and then all the fanbois will run our and get a new one.

You forgot something. We, the iPad users are just a bunch of religious fanatics. We are easily impressed by shiny toys that is nothing more than a giant iPod-Touch.

So, how can we turn around and be annoyed at the lack of anything in there? Flash, USB, Camera, whatever? We don't care. We're just fanboys. And you know what? We love it so.

We're not annoyed at lack of flash. Steve told us not to be annoyed. Steve told us he will give us HTML5 and H.264. And Steve knows best.

OK. Can we give it a rest now?

I don't miss flash on the ipad (period).
What I am annoyed at, is websites that force you to use a proprietary plug-in (flash, if you didn't guess), just to enter their website! Well, guys, there's a billion other website calling.

I don't miss it. Flash is proprietary junk. The web doesn't need it. What the web needs, is open standards like HTML5. I love my iPad, no complaints whatsoever. Easy to use, works great, no crashing and viruses and headaches like you get with Windows.

In a company with over 400 employes; where one in five have iPhones; I have yet to hear anyone say they miss Flash.

Most others use Flashblock on their PCs Windows/Linux-based platforms anyway.

For a software company that does NOT use Apple/Mac platforms for anything, I think that says something about the need for Flash. I must also repeat that I had more problems with Quicktime compatibility than I have had with Flash in the past.

I haven't missed Flash on my iPhone or, now iPad since I made the investments with iPhone's first gen launch...and I'm a Flash developer. It's just not a necessary technology like so many writers are trying to make us believe. Report fact, not conjecture and hype.

Flash is lame and stupid and no one misses it. Playing Quality Control on your content is super important! Quicktime rulllleeeess! It always looks good, gotta admit. And Flash-based websites are so 2006. EVERYONE HIGH FIVE!

More Isee of Ipad, more Ilaugh.

The docking station only allows portrait orientation, so it's out for watching video, while the extra cost keyboard harks back to Commodore PET chiclet design, just isn't for touch typing.

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=4492&tag=nl.e101

I enjoy my iPad very much. But thought it might be useful for people to read my moment of enlightenment concerning how to type on the virtual keyboard.

http://divelove.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/touch-typing-on-the-ipad/

On the comments above, I agree it is misleading to say that one can view the whole web when flash is not supported. It is a closer call whether one can say its the best web viewing experience. That is an opinion, of course, and the experience is quite great. :)

of the report. The people surveyed were asked what they liked best and worst about the device. In the "what did you like worst" category 11% said the lack of Flash, so only about 1 in 10 people wanted Flash enough to complain about it.

The other point that Lawrence carefully ignored was the survey of people as to their buying intentions. Seven percent (up from 4%) said that they were "very likely" to buy one and 13% were "somewhat likely" to buy, up from 9% when asked before the iPad launch. Put another way people have seen these things, talked to people who have bought them, played with them or what-have-you and now 1 in 5 people are giving serious thought to buying one. Unfortunately this doesn't fit in with Lawrence's view of the world (where apparently a JooJoo is what people should want).

That states (Paraphrase) "The whole Web at your fingertips."

Well that's a lie!?

The only thing that annoys most iPad users about the lack of Flash is that it gives tools like the author of this article the fodder for worthless articles. Of the things that iPad owners are annoyed by, lack of Flash was the response of 11%. This was followed up by several other minor gripes. Overall, satisfaction is outstanding and these things are are still sold out (especially the 3G models).

stupid people bought a stupid product...

people dont know how to research a product.....but thats what Apple's best at.....I had to explain to people thats Apples new iPhone 4g, was in name only and not in 4g