Flash-to-iOS Apps Already Being Approved in the App Store, Adobe Claims

Adobe has officially responded to Apple’s move to relax the terms and conditions surrounding iOS development, confirming that its Packager for iPhone, an app-porting tool in Flash Professional CS5, is now back on the road.

Posted by Adobe Corporate Communications on September 9, the response begins with the company’s acknowledgement that Apple has lifted bans on third-party development tools with a focus on iOS.

“Apple’s announcement today that it has lifted restrictions on its third-party developer guidelines has direct implications for Adobe’s Packager for iPhone, a feature in the Flash Professional CS5 authoring tool,” Adobe writes.

“This feature was created to enable Flash developers to quickly and easily deliver applications for iOS devices. The feature is available for developers to use today in Flash Professional CS5, and we will now resume development work on this feature for future releases.”

Adobe praises the move suggesting developers will benefit greatly from this.

The Flash makers claim to have heard from their developer community that Apple has already begun approving apps ported to iOS using Packager.

“We do want to point out that Apple’s restriction on Flash content running in the browser on iOS devices remains in place,” the company stresses.

“Adobe will continue to work to bring full web browsing with Flash Player 10.1 as well as standalone applications on AIR to a broad range of devices, working with key industry partners including Google, HTC, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Palm/HP, RIM, Samsung and others,” the software company concludes.

A statement by Apple on the new App Store Review Guidelines revealed yesterday that the company was making some important changes to its iOS Developer Program license in sections 3.3.1, 3.3.2 and 3.3.9 to relax some restrictions it had put in place earlier this year.

The company noted that all restrictions on the development tools used to create iOS apps were now more relaxed.

As long as the resulting apps do not download any code, “this should give developers the flexibility they want, while preserving the security we need,” Apple noted.

The change comes weeks after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission reportedly reviewed a complaint from Adobe over Apple's banning of Flash from its iOS portables.

Apple previously updated its iOS 4 SDK terms and conditions to ban intermediary tools that would allow the likes of Adobe, Sun Microsystems and Microsoft to port applications developed using their own tools.

“We have listened to our developers and taken much of their feedback to heart,” Apple said.

In addition, starting yesterday, Apple is now making the App Store Review Guidelines public (available only to registered developers) to help programmers understand how Cupertino reviews submitted apps.

“We hope it will make us more transparent and help our developers create even more successful apps for the App Store,” Apple said.

Also noteworhy, Adobe's stock went up 12% on yesterday's news, according to a report.