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Adobe May be Behind the Apple Antitrust Inquiry

Ryan Fleming By

A recent change in Apple’s license banned all third-party development tools, including Adobe’s Flash. Now it appears that Adobe may have a hand in the antitrust inquiry that is about to begin.

Just when it looked like the battle between Apple and Adobe was over (and that Apple had won), it appears that the earlier skirmishes may have just been the opening rounds.

According to Bloomberg, the antitrust inquiry of Apple that questions the legality of Apple forcing developers to use its proprietary tools – a move that effectively banned Adobe’s Flash and seemed to end the battle between Adobe and Apple – may have been initiated by Adobe.

The upcoming inquiry stems from a complaint by Adobe that Apple is deliberately curtailing competition by barring developers from using Flash, and other third-party software. At first the action appeared to be heading to court via a lawsuit from Adobe, but nothing has yet come from the rumored litigation. At least not yet.

Adobe’s complaint began a negotiation between the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, not about if there should be an inquiry, but who should lead it. If the inquiry reveals enough evidence to merit it, an official investigation will begin and Apple will be subpoenaed.

In many ways, this is the next logical step between the two companies. It began as a war of words, which culminated in a bitter dispute that Adobe had apparently lost when Apple changed its license. In Steve Jobs’ open letter explaining why the company barred Flash, Jobs lists six flaws in the technology that includes everything from security to its inherent design on touch devices. Adobe did not issue a reply, but perhaps the company took it personally.

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Showing 21 comments

  1. JPerez45 at 3:28pm 19th August 2010 Apple designed and manufactured their own hardware console, it's their right to decide how they license it to developers because it´s a closed hardware, it´s like Nintendo or Sony, nobody cared their very restrictive licensing agreements (especially Sony), you can´t develop to a closed hardware without being approved and signed a license agreement. The OSes are different because they're software, they can't rule over the hardware manufacturer's rights.
    1. JPerez45 at 3:35pm 19th August 2010 Adobe is known for tracking customer's information and weird customer practices... like Microsoft! and their Windows OS and Office and Video player and so many others. http://www.centernetworks.com/adobe-replies-to-sp...
  2. FjordPrefect at 6:58pm 15th July 2010 I just don't get this. Every phone I've ever had has had control over what apps can be installed! My iPhone was the first that actually gave me any choice at all. And now they're suing Apple for this? What total crap. Think back to your Motorola flip phones, RAZRs and Sidekicks. Could you install whatever software you wanted on it? No. So how is Apple violating any sort of law here?
  3. Stephane Beladaci at 9:07am 15th May 2010 Does HTML 5 Herald The End Of RIA Plug-Ins? Not Really
    http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/does_html_...

    HTML 5: Is There Any Truth To The Hype?
    http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/html_5_is_...
  4. Stephane Beladaci at 9:06am 15th May 2010 The anti-trust investigation would be about Apple trying to control mobile application (they already control 90% of that market), it has nothing to do with its product lines. Apple only wish they could have an anti trust issue with their products lol.
  5. Stephane Beladaci at 9:00am 15th May 2010 "Adobe did not issue a reply"... actually Adobe did:

    The Truth About Flash:
    http://www.adobe.com/choice/flash.html

    Freedom Of Choice:
    http://www.adobe.com/choice/

    Adobe's thoughts on open markets:
    http://www.adobe.com/choice/openmarkets.html

    The highly respected Forrester Research also issued not one but two report on HTML5, not really what Job's telling us!

    Does HTML 5 Herald The End Of RIA Plug-Ins? Not Really
    http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/adobe-ma...

    HTML 5: Is There Any Truth To The Hype?
    http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/html_5_is_...

    If I had any of Apple stock, I would sell it now before it is too late because the corporate world seems to get organized to take Apple down, that it what they get for sending their megalomaniac CEO tell all sort of bullshit to the media in an attempt to destroy the competition by misleading the public... unfortunately screwing users is one thing, screwing developers is another... Let's see how it goes.

    Some of the other lawsuits pending:

    Apple faces an anti-trust suit. Is there an app for that?
    http://blogs.computerworld.com/16039/apple_face...

    Nokia Sues Apple for Stealing Proprietary Technology of iPad
    http://www.toptechreviews.net/tech-news/nokia-s...

    HTC Counters Apple with Lawsuit
    http://www.reputationmanagementfor.com/blog/201...

    SoftView files patent suit against Apple, AT&T
    http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20004791-37.html

    Apple Sued Over iPhone Liquid Sensors
    http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/ap...

    Apple sued over iPhone keyboard
    http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-9755446-37.html

    Apple Tastes Own Medicine, Gets Sued For Multi-Touch
    http://phandroid.com/2010/04/01/apple-tastes-ow...

    ELAN Microelectronics Announces Filing of U.S. International Trade Commission Complaint Against APPLE 
    http://www.emc.com.tw/eng/news_1_1.asp?id=85
    1. Hope Float at 5:25am 20th August 2010 it look like you really hate apple. don't waste timein hating adopt HP slate :)
  6. Felixius at 9:57am 10th May 2010 Naw, not hogwash. Flash is a CPU hog. 10.1 does run a little better though. I disagree with you buddy.

    Laptops? Aren't we talking about phone devices and the like? Anyway, two points to just continue the discussion. 1. HTML5 may not be any better, especially with video. 2. Maybe Flash doesn't run well on ipad and upcoming iphone due to Apple's own chipset?


    OOH Good point about flash games!

    Sam, you sound like an intelligent fellow. Do you think that Apple is not letting 3rd parties (such as Adobe) create tools (such as Flash) to build Xcode to create iphone/ipad applications as a part of this brewing war? Or are there other reasons?
  7. Felixius at 8:10am 10th May 2010 Hey, sorry Sam, Don't get me wrong. HTML5 doesn't even 'exist' (I couldn't even tell you when it would be released). Flash is here and now. I did not mean to impy that HTML5 is here and now. Not trying to twist the numbers here. I was just responding to Ian, comment about taking a decade to gain market share as when HTML5 IS released some time in the future, that they will inherently support HTML5.
  8. Sam at 7:55am 10th May 2010 Again, this is hog wash. If Flash was THAT CPU intensive, then laptops would simply come with a browser that doesn't support it. Even Safari supports Flash.

    Jobs doesn't want Flash on the iPhone or iPad because it will let developers skip the iTunes store and create games on their own websites. That equals lost revenue for Apple which is why he is forcing you to use iTunes.
    1. Don at 7:49am 29th October 2010 This argument is always laughable, with the greatest majority of the apps selling for $1.99 this gives apple $0.60. But wait, you say, Apple sells a million of those things - hey now were talking $600K - wow a significant revenue stream for a company with $50B in cash. Apple sells apps to make their hardware more useful ( saleable). This used to be the knock against Apple - yeah they make great machines, but theres no software to run on them. Golly gee - a new business model - I will make a piece of hardware that you can use (confidently) right out if the box.
  9. Sam at 7:53am 10th May 2010 100% of the browsers support a version of Flash too. Do not try to twist the numbers to act as if HTML 5 has been adopted by everyone - it's not.
  10. Felixius at 7:28am 10th May 2010 Gosh... I code in Actionscript 3 for Flash... I am so conflicted!
  11. Felixius at 7:25am 10th May 2010 Yes, 98% of the "iPop" (made that up just then!) have Flash and 100% of browsers support HTML of some version. Browsers will support HTML5 very quickly and are supporting some of the features already (although that code is not deemed as standard...) and I, as a boring code-head cannot wait to use HTML5. If I, as a web developer use HTML5, then those who view my pages, will be using HTML5 inherently.
  12. Felixius at 7:21am 10th May 2010 I am not sure that if I was creating a product, that I would just let the users decide what ran on it or not. It is my product to create and have run as I see fit. It is my desire for it to run at its best. It is the freedom of the people to vote with their dollars to buy it or not. Go buy an HP Slate and be happy.

    As for the question of antitrust, I am no expert, but it seems that one would have a monopoly in a certain market... say cell phones. Nokia leads this area with 39% of market share in the 1st Q of 2010 and runs the OVI store. Apple is not far behind with 16% and run their iTunes store to sell apps. Nokia, Sony/Ericsson and the like have previously had proprietary connectors (not sure about now), but my current phone has a micro USB connector (a new standard) that is not widely adopted.
  13. Felixius at 7:09am 10th May 2010 One of the major problems with Flash is CPU cycle usage. If anyone has been to a website with a silly amount of Flash banner adverts, one would notice a slowdown of their computer. Okay, I hear you... "bad scripting on the Flash developer's side". And "Who cares? modern CPUs and volume of RAM can take it anyway!" True... but for a battery operated device, it can kill battery life.

    I do speak from a Flash developer's point of view and was looking forward to creating iphone/ipad apps through Flash CS5...
  14. Ian Bell at 11:03pm 9th May 2010 98% of the internet uses Flash. It will literally take a decade for HTML 5 to even get that much marketshare. It is a poor choice IMO.
  15. Ron at 10:40pm 9th May 2010 Flash is for creative happy people, HTML5 is for boring code-heads.
  16. Ben Ong at 10:40am 9th May 2010 Apple should let users decide if they want flash or not. They totally cut them out altogether. If they can do it to a company like Adobe with a proven platform they will definitely do it to smaller providers who do not follow the Jobs mantra. Apple is behaving like Microsoft in the 90's. I am wondering why it took this long for the US gov't to think about suing Apple for antitrust. I really hope Apple gets some serious competition to the Iphone and the Ipad. The Ipad sucks. Micro-sim card which no telco in the world uses, no external ports so they can fleece you some more for external adaptors, locked development platform, etc. etc. Unfortunately they produce eye candy gorgeous products and the Ipad's space, they are first. I hope HP can churn out the Slate with WebOS or even windows 7 faster.
  17. Ashutosh at 12:37am 5th May 2010 WAR between Apple and Adobe. Whom you support??
  18. Frobots at 1:33pm 4th May 2010 Adobe are bad losers. Viva HMTL5 !
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