Flash for iPhone. What kind of Flash do we need?

The hottest news of the recent Flash on the Beach is that Adobe is really developing Flash player for the Apple's iPhone. Sr. Director of Engineering at Adobe Systems Paul Betlem confirmed that Adobe is really developing a Flash Player for the iPhone. There was said nothing about date and time, because now the decision is up to Apple. As it was implied, Adobe can finish its work in short time, the only thing they're waiting for is Apple's approval. Nevertheless, I don't think Adobe would begin developing Flash for iPhone without having hope that Apple would approve it.

The most discussed question now is not whether Apple's going to include Flash or not. It's whether people need Flash on iPhone or not. As always, when it comes to Flash, there are only a few people who say "I don't care", the most of iPhone users run to extremes like "No way. I don't need Flash" or "OMG! That's what I'm eagerly awaiting for!".

So, what are their pros and cons? The main con is that Flash is CPU-intensive, or, to say easier, it use CPU like crazy. The main pro is that Flash is an integral part of the Web and if Apple wants to give iPhone users the real Web in a palm, it has to make Flash available for iPhone.

The truth always lies somewhere in between, between the two extreme views. Yes, the kind of Flash we use on our PCs is surely not suitable for iPhone, it just won't have enough resources to work well. But Flash for iPhone won't be the same, that's obvious. I believe it's developed according to iPhone capability and performance. So, what Flash is needed to satisfy everyone?

To satisfy Steve Jobs (Apple CEO), Adobe has to develop the middle product between Adobe's Mobile Flash (Flash Lite), which "is not capable of being used with the Web" and a traditional Flash for the PC which is too resource-intensive.

To satisfy every iPhone user, I think there must be Flash on the iPhone but it must have an option to be toggled on/off, or blocked if needed, or simply require click to be played (e.g. like YouTube). Then it'll be OK both for users who want to browse Flash content and for those who don't want to.

Apple claims iPhone to be a "breakthrough Internet device". And in spite of all the criticism, it's impossible to imagine today's Internet without Flash and, thus, it's impossible to imagine a breakthrough Internet device without having Flash player too.