We’ve known for a long time that Apple hates flash. Hell, flash is pretty much the only thing that ever makes my Mac crash, so it’s understandable that Apple would dislike the technology. The web is overridden with flash, and Apple didn’t have a choice but to include it with Safari because 99% of all browsers have flash. And well, if you’re trying to convince people to switch platforms it’s best that you’re web browser displays the quintessential media format. But times are changing. With the iPhone and now the iPad we’re going through a transition where flash goes away in favor of standard technologies like HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. Why is Steve able to do this? Well because with these devices he’s starting from scratch. Sure, many webpages don’t work perfectly on an iPhone/iPad but it doesn’t matter because the ones we really care about (YouTube, Facebook, etc) have created apps that deliver a richer experience.

Here is Steve’s “Thoughts on Flash” manifesto.

Update: Literally as I was writing this blog entry one of my other Safari tabs had a flash movie in it that crashed my entire Safari app. Luckily wordpress has an autosave feature.