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One of the more exciting developments on Adobe Labs is the announcement that Adobe Flash CS5 will allow you to create native applications for the iPhone. Unfortunately, this still doesn't change the fact that your everyday web sites that use Flash will not be able to play Flash based content on the iPhone's web browser. Apple has stated in the past that they don't feel Flash is stable enough to allow on the iPhone. This means that while a major gateway has been opened in allowing a designer friendly tool to take advantage of creating iPhone applications, the iPhone will still remain one of the few smartphones where plans are not underway to bring Flash to the phone's web browser via Adobe's Open Screen Project.

The significance of the ability to create iPhone applications in Flash cannot be understated. Adobe's Flash Lite 3 platform, which was designed to bring Flash onto mobile devices has not made a significant entry into the American marketplace. While the user base and the number of phone supported are expanding rapidly, there aren't enough devices that support the technology to make it feasible to implement for most projects.

With the upcoming ability to design and develop iPhone applications Flash will find its way onto iPhones and in turn the iPhone will now have a user friendly environment to create applications in that already has a large install base. However, Apple's iPhone Development Program requirements are relatively strict, so it will be interesting to see what happens when a much larger designer/developer base is able to create applications to sell in the App Store.

Within months the ramifications of all of these factors will begin to take shape and it will be a pivotal time for both the iPhone and Flash platform.

Link: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashcs5/appsfor_iphone/