Adobe and Greystripe have announced a joint initiative to circumvent Apple’s heavy-handed mobile Flash ban.
According to Adobe, Greystripe operates by automatically converting Flash ads to HTML5 for a wide range of Apple mobile devices, including the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.
“The ad solution is comparable to Apple’s recently introduced iAds unit; however, unlike iAds, they will be authored with Adobe Flash authoring tools, priced at a fraction of the cost, and come in both expandable banner and full screen interstitial formats,” Adobe explained in an official press release.
“Since Flash is the standard for developing rich media digital advertising, these solutions will give brand advertisers and digital agencies the ability to retain full control over ad development, reduce costs by preserving existing workflows while enabling support for HTML5, provide advertisers reach across all major desktop and mobile platforms, and decrease the time between ad concept and delivery.”
Meanwhile, Mark Walsh of Media Post noted the alliance between the two companies was clearly aimed at helping Adobe “make an end-run” around Apple’s Flash ban.
“While Greystripe and Adobe didn’t detail the scope of their collaboration, it appears Adobe could package iFlash in the latest version of its flagship Creative Suite of content design tools in place of its own Flash workaround feature,” wrote Walsh.
However, PC World’s Tony Bradley cautioned that the concept of a Flash workaround was little more than a “Band-Aid approach” with a limited lifespan.
“Even if Apple and Adobe never arrive at any sort of agreement to bring Flash natively to the iPhone or iPad, HTML5 will continue to grow as a standard and advertisers will eventually wean off of the reliance on Flash by attrition.
“For now, though, solutions like those offered by Greystripe and Brightcove enable businesses to maximize their existing investment in Flash video and marketing content and reach the massive iPhone and iPad audience without having to recreate it all.”
