iPhone ego clash costs Flash at Virgin America
As Silicon Valley titans Apple and Adobe System deck it out over the weakness of Flash, one Valley-based outfit has put Adobe's Flash in its place - and that place isn't online — Start-up airline Virgin America has decided HTML is …
Context & Ripple Effects
The Apple-Adobe fight has been building since Steve Jobs declared in 2008 that Flash Player simply was not suited for the iPhone, and it sharpened through [[a:1187017|February's debate among investors and developers over whether Flash or HTML5 wins on mobile]]. What makes Virgin America's move notable is that it is not an Apple device decision — it is a consumer website choosing plain HTML over Flash for its booking experience while the two vendors trade blows publicly.
First-order effects
- Virgin America's web team now maintains an HTML-based front end with no Flash plugin dependency, removing a runtime Adobe had counted as default infrastructure on the consumer web.
- Adobe loses a high-profile Bay Area brand as a Flash showcase at exactly the moment Apple's public criticism of the platform is peaking.
Second-order effects
- Other travel and e-commerce operators watching the dispute face the same question about their own Flash-heavy sites, since a peer airline has demonstrated HTML can carry the booking path.
- Adobe's counter-position narrows toward the uses Apple does not contest head-on — video and rich media — rather than general interactive web UI.
Third-order effects
- If sites keep concluding they can ship without Flash, the plugin's role as the de facto interactive layer of the web erodes in favor of open HTML5 standards, with platform owners like Apple holding effective veto power over which runtimes reach mobile audiences.
The trend: Web publishers are migrating from plugin-based runtimes like Flash to open HTML5 as major device platforms refuse to carry Flash and early movers prove the alternative viable.