Apple's Blatant Lie about the iPad (Kim Gentes Worship/Tech Blog)
Friday, June 4, 2010 at 11:18AM 
I own an iPad. I love using it. I use Netflix and stream movies when I am sitting on the couch. I check my mail, calendar, and even write notes in some meetings. I use a Bible application for following along in church and I access maps for quick references. I have already written two articles about the iPad- one a positive review of it, the other a critique of Apple's decision to exclude flash technology from the platform. Check either of those articles to see that I love the positive attributes of the device, but remain skeptical of some aspects of the device.
That said, nothing burns me more than to see someone fly completely against reason and logic with an outright lie. Apple recently did this with their new advertizement for the iPad. So that you can review it for yourself, I encourage you to view the ad on Apple's website here:
http://www.apple.com/ipad/gallery/#ad
What you will see is a brilliant marketing and visual story. Compelling and fresh. I love it. Except that while it is listing the sparkling features of the iPad, at 0:17 through 0:20, the commercial says this:
"All the world's websites in your hands"
This is simply not true. Literally millions of websites run either completely or partially based on Adobe Flash. This is not a guess, this is a fact. Any website using Flash will not be able to function on iPad. In fact, a huge number or them won't even be visible at all, except for a "not supported" message.
According to several studies, approximately 1/3 of all websites will be useless on the iPad. In one of the largest online reviews of website technology, Opera Software surveyed 3.5 million web pages and about 33% of them used Flash. That number gets even larger in developing technology regions of the world, such as China (at 67%) and Turkey (at 60%). You can see the results of this survey data at http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/mama-key-findings/#flash
Admittedly the report is 1.5 years old, which is a long time on the web. But with the web following its trends, Flash implementation actually could reasonably be believed to be higher now than it was 1.5 years ago. With the iPad coming out just weeks ago, any change in that strategy would not have embedded itself in the majority of websites. Those websites that are working to accommodate both Flash and HTML5 (iPad's only online web media player solution, except iTunes and Quicktime of course), such as Youtube.com have done so only very recently and have provided both options (Flash and HTML5) in deference to the vast hundreds of millions of users who use Flash as their web media player.
Back to the original point. Apple clearly says "All the world's websites in your hands". Why lie? Why not spin the commercial to say something complimentary about the browsing experience. Why lie blatantly in the face of undisputed facts? I won't answer the question, but I hope Apple does do something.
My hope is that Apple will listen to my request to them:
Apple, change the commercial. Advertise honestly. You didn't want to put Flash on your device. That is fine. Your call. But don't lie about the capabilities of the iPad in the face of the decision you made.
Here's hoping someone cares about "truth in advertizing" these days... we'll see.
Happy iPad-ding and web surfing...
Kim Gentes
Reader Comments (3)
This very commercial got me searching for other people's opinon of it.
Remember the past Mac vs PC commercials made my Mac? The preceive that Macs don't crash - many already knew better.
Now, according to Jobs, Flash makes them crash.
Apple products for me? iDon'tThinkSo
Actually, sites were already starting to move away from it well before the iPad came along. The only difference is now the world is talking about it.
I don't want to make assumptions, and I'm (really) trying not to be condescending, but it doesn't appear that you understand the role of Flash on the vast majority of websites. To make such a claim as suggesting that a third of websites would be unusable is specious at best and outright ridiculous at worst. Outside of a small percentage of sites that depend heavily on video, sites that use Flash typically use only use a small amount. You know--those opening animations we all click "skip intro" when we see them? The lion's share of such a site as this is still available to me on an iPad. I don't care how many rotations some company logo can turn in 3D space for 30 seconds.
I do a LOT of websurfing on my iPad and most of the time I am able to completely forget about Flash. In other words, I am certainly not being barred from a third of the Internet--by ANY measure.
So, I really don't have a problem with a claim of "all the world's websites." It's hopelessly vague puffery anyway and we all know it. The web has literally hundreds of different standards and media types. Should Apple be required to support them all or just some percentage of them?
I guess it's a good thing for Apple that people are so passionate about their products, but, to me, this is akin to a car company removing ashtrays from their vehicles. Sure, it will anger smokers but they can certainly buy another car. The rest of us are just fine with getting back that dashboard space for something else.
Scott, you said "it doesn't appear that you understand the role of Flash on the vast majority of websites"... you'd be wrong there.. I have been working and developing internet resources and technologies since the Web really began. I think I understand Flash and how it is incorporate to sites in general. The reason most people us Flash breaks down to six main areas:
1. Video /audio/media presentation of content - youtube/vimeo and about a thousand various flash players.
2. Navigation of Site - An alternative to HTML, and later Javascript/ajax for entire site navigation and experience. Smoothness of operation gave the otherwise choppy web experience some fluidity and sleekness. As Javascript evolved into AJAX and the Javascript frameworks like JQuery/YUI/ etc grew into maturity, the javascript effects made fluidity less of an issue, and certainly HTML5 and Ajax move closer to being a good alternative to Flash.
3. Functional tools (uploaders/widgets) - flash is used in small tools and widgets extensively, making plug and play tools do everything from webcam interactive functions to online guitar tuners.
4. Complete applications - several sights have complete applications in Flash, for various reasons. Some of them are games, which is silly to me, but lots of people use them. Again, there are other options now coming online, with AJAX, and no one is saying different.
5. Animation of graphics/site assets (logos, non-functional motion graphics)
6. Advertising banners and junk
The point is, that really only points 5 and 6 match up to your claims, and the majority of sites that use Flash do not simply use it for just 5 and 6. If you can't navigate a site, can't view its media, can't operate its functionality placed online via flash and such, the site isn't much use.
The reason I mention this is simply this- your assumption was about my understanding of how flash is used is incorrect.
All that said, dismissing "all the worlds websites" as puffery is silly. Whether tiny or small in proportion of each site, the study shows that 30% of the sites do USE flash. This means you can't really use the site, some of its functions or its media.. It's not a made up number, its a real thing.
Apple could have just as easily said "millions of websites" or something ubiquitous. Instead, they chose to lie. Puffery is when you exaggerate to win the day. But saying "ALL the world's websites" is an absolute ("all" being the absolute). That isn't puffery. That is lying. I suppose you can defend it by throwing in a red herring like ash trays and other completely silly arguments, but technical experts, developers, and just tech savvy internet users know better.
Truth be told, Apple's move is having its desired effect. People are building sites to accomodate more quickly to HTML5 , though, surprise- it actually doesn't work on many of user computers/browsers (again, this is changing but more people are still on IE than any other browser -yuk, of course). But the iPhone platform will certainly push out Flash dependence, no doubt. Again, yay, for Apple. They are doing some brilliant things on interface and user design (in both hardware and software).
My article wasn't about their success or their rights to do what they would like in decisions and marketing and competitive actions.The whole of my article was about Apple's tactics along the way... why not be successful without lying? I suppose that would only be important to some people.