I think this is an amazing and overdue addition to the iPhone developers arsenal. I can already here a number of you bitching and moaning that Flash is nothing more than animation overkill but I must strongly disagree with you. Flash Action Script 3 will give developers a powerful tool to wield. Besides there are already numerous non-traditional frameworks used to create native iPhone apps why not have one created by the largest designer/developer friendly company in the world? I can only see good coming from this. Maybe i’m not impartial because I love working in Flash. It’s just fun.

From what I can tell the full blown Flash Player is still not going to be allowed to run on the iPhone because it would allow code to be downloaded and executed which is Major Apple no no. Seems like the next release (CS5) of Flash is going to have the ability to compile native apps.

Watch as Adobe makes the announcement of Flash for iPhone in this clip from todays MAX2009 Keynote:

Click here to view the embedded video.

As for the apps on the store already compiled using the Beta version of Flash CS5 take a look for yourself . . .

– South Park Avatar Creator
– Just Letters
– Finger Paint
– Red Hood
– Chroma Circuit
– FickleBlox
– That Roach Game
– Trading Stuff

Seems like Adobe slipped these apps into the store without Apple’s knowledge of the technology behind them so no one really knows exactly how Apple will react to the news. It’s a shame that Adobe has had to resort to these types of methods without the full support of Apple. Hopefully all goes well and by next year we’ll be seeing many amazing new apps built using Flash CS5!

Official Post on the Adobe Developer Connection

Adobe Applications for iPhone:Developer FAQ

Flash CS5 Beta on Adobe Labs (not yet available – in private beta)