Former Exec Reveals Apple Considered Bringing Adobe Flash to iOS

Former Apple head of software engineering Scott Forstall has made some interesting revelations during his depositions in the Epic Games vs. Apple case, including the fact that Apple once considered letting Adobe bring Flash to iOS (via 9to5Mac).

Scott Forstall left Apple in 2012, but he led the development of the iPhone and iPad, as well as its operating system, which is why he has been asked to testify in the Epic vs. Apple case.

When asked about Flash support on iOS, Forstall assumed that Apple even tried to help Adobe port the technology to Apple’s mobile devices, but the performance was terrible.

The results were “embarrassing,” said Forstall, adding that as a result, Apple never allowed Flash to be released for iOS. “We did not ship Flash. We tried to make Flash work. We helped Adobe. We definitely were interested.”

“Again, this is one where I thought if we could help make it work, this could be great. Flash has been such a problem because the way that it hooks into systems, it’s been a virus nightmare on Windows, even on the Mac. And when we got it running on iOS, the performance was just abysmal and embarrassing and it could never get to something which would be consumer value add.”

Earlier this year, Adobe officially discontinued Flash and permanently ended support for it in all web browsers and operating systems.