Never thought I would be toting around an Apple device but I got one of the new iPads (current version) last week and I haven't used my other devices much since. I looked at the Transformer (et al), but the display on the iPad is peerless, and the interoperability with my phone and iTunes (the cloud storage of everything) is also valuable because I travel a lot.

I'm not really a big fan of the iPad3. The retina display, while nice and pretty looking, doesn't really justify the reduction in battery life, the increased charging time, or the increase in dimensions and weight. Right now, the iPad2 is a much better deal and a better system IMO...

Yeah, that extra .8mm and .1 pounds really makes a difference.

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/mobi...flash-support/

Android latest platform to drop Flash support

By Jon Gold | Network World US | 15 August 12

As of today, Adobe's Flash media infrastructure is no longer supported on the Android mobile platform, marking a further shift of momentum toward the alternative HTML5 standard.

The move is in keeping with Adobe's stated policy on mobile Flash, as the company announced in late 2011 that it would be abandoning its efforts in the smartphone and tablet market to focus on development for HTML5 -- an open standard touted as the future of rich Web content.

If you've already got the Flash plug-in on your Android device, it should still work, though official development has ceased, and users of Jelly Bean are out of luck in any case -- Adobe never developed a version of the platform for Android 4.1, and says that it has no plans to do so. Existing Flash installs on certified devices will continue to receive security updates, however.

That's an important consideration, as security is one of the key points that many of Flash's critics -- most famously, Steve Jobs, in his well-known letter explaining why he didn't want it on iOS -- point to as reasons why it's past time to switch to a different standard. Adobe's record of securing Flash is not a pretty one, which has made the framework a popular target surface for malware distribution.

While there's still plenty of Web content out there that depends on the Flash plug-in to run, the HTML5 standard is rapidly increasing in popularity -- so even though Adobe's decision might make some sites not function on Android devices, there shouldn't be a long-term loss of functionality.

The story is much the same on the other major mobile platforms, with the exception of BlackBerry OS -- Research In Motion has said it would continue to support Flash as well as HTML5 in the future. Future Windows Phone versions will have only limited support, however, and iOS, as mentioned, has never been interested in the framework.

Email Jon Gold at jgold@nww.com and follow him on Twitter at @NWWJonGold.

Am I supposed to praise Apple or Google on this one? Or am I supposed to get angry at one or both of them??

**** I'm confused?!

I guess I don't understand what that means. I'm running Jellybean on my phone and tablet, and flash works fine. :shrug:

I'm using Dolphin Browser HD, which may have it built in I guess.

And here we are OVER 28 months later and HTML5 adoption is still CRAWLING along... no video standard, poor implementation, etc etc

I was wrong to think that it would take 2 years to see proper adoption and a phase out of Flash... it's gonna be even longer. Of course that means all you Apple fan bois were WAY WAY WAY WRONG. :D

I think it's a mistake for Adobe to abandon the mobile market NOW, they are a solid year too early BUT hopefully it will speed things up. As much as I recognize the NEED for Flash capable devices... I'd rather it be left behind and replaced. The problem is Apple and now Adobe are putting the cart before the horse.

In a fun bit of irony... I may have to buy a Mac in the next month. Apple won't let you develop on any platform other then their own... so if I want to port my android phone app to a iPhone then I will have to buy my first Apple since 1985!

(all the other Macs, iPads, etc I have used or worked on in recent years weren't mine.. mostly girlfriends and such)

Apple never wanted to work with flash because it's a resource hog and has a lot of security problems. They tried to help push html5 instead. Looks like they were on the winning side

Adobe can just die already...

iPad rebound.... Google Nexus better get to work Q3, it should drop the numbers a bit...

IHS iSuppli: Apple iPad takes 69.6 percent of tablet brand market share in Q2, reader tablets take a bruising

By Jon Fingas posted Aug 14th 2012 5:14PM

http://imageshack.us/a/img31/2920/ih...letmarkets.jpg

An earlier portrait of the second quarter's tablet market share made it quite clear that the iPad was on a rebound, if it was ever in a slump to start with. All those numbers focused on platforms and not brands, however -- we didn't know how the individual makers were doing. If IHS iSuppli's figures are on the ball, there's even more of a discrepancy if you break down the period's results by manufacturer. The iPad staked out 69.6 percent of tablet shipments in the spring. That wasn't just an 11-point jump over a year earlier; it was a level of share Apple hasn't had since the Motorola Xoom was just cutting its teeth early in 2011.

As for the rest? Transformer Pads kept ASUS growing, but it's not a pretty sight if you're making an Android reader tablet; both Amazon and Barnes & Noble shed roughly a point and a half each, which is no small amount relative to their size. Samsung also lost share by this after its deliveries of Galaxy Tabs mostly stayed flat. We'd add that there's some wiggle room as to real performance knowing that units shipped and sold aren't always one and the same. Most of these companies are leaving clues regarding upcoming tablet refreshes that might level the playing field, some not so subtle, but it's currently Apple's game to win.

The problem is that these numbers are only valid to compare against themselves. They simply don't include all the manufacturers and most importantly they don't include the "shadow" tablet market. White box tablets in China and India are selling in mass numbers but don't get counted. The last estimate I saw for 2012 was 40-50 MILLION units to ship as white box tablets. That figure is estimated to be 100-150 for 2013. No question that iPad still holds the lead as a single brand among Tier 1 tablets though. I blame MS for being so slow to the game, I think they will make a huge push (if they price it right) but I have my doubts that the push will come in time to make a significant difference this year. We'll see.

(btw, with all the numbers added in, it puts Apple down below the 30% range but it's really hard to tell how accurate the numbers really are without paying out the ass for the actual industry reports on displays.. I looked once and it was somethign crazy like $2k for the reports... regarding our bet, I think I will be close-ish but just not have enough time to catch up... was too aggressive and should have padded with another 6 months! :D)

That android tablet that will dominate the iPad is right around the corner....

I think you and I agree on probably 95% of technology. But I'm not sure I care about the whitebox sales, especially as google continues to exert more influence over it's ecosystem.

And isn't the point of tablet sales the ecosystem? How many people in China buying off market tablets are investing in Google apps, movies, and music? It just doesn't matter.


I also think Microsoft will blow it badly when it comes to tablets. Quick, go ask anyone on the street what the difference between Windows 8, Windows 8 RT, and Windows 7, and Windows XASEDS is. They are the worst company at marketing I've ever seen.