Will An Adobe Vs Apple Lawsuit Lead To An Open App Store?

Rumors are mounting that Adobe is fed up with Apple's tight fisted strangle hold approach to the App Store. In fact many believe that Adobe might be ready to test the waters in court. A move which might force Apple's hand and loosen the monopoly in place.

At issue is the duo’s feud over Adobe’s Flash technology which as of now Apple has refused to let Adobe’s Flash technology anywhere near the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad system. As of last week Apple basically disallowed anything built on or around Adobe flash. Now Adobe is crying foul over Apple’s decision to not only prevent Flash on the iPhone OS, but also to ban iPhone/iPad apps that were created by converting Flash applications.

This is seems might be the straw that broke the camels back. When Apple released their iPhone OS 4 update they also updated their iPhone SDK developer agreement to rule out the use of cross-compilers like Adobe’s Flash Packager for iPhone – which basically converts Flash apps into native iPhone apps. The updated language in the iPhone OS 4.0 SDK essentially bans any iPhone apps that started their lives as Flash apps.

According to ITWorld sources close to the matter are suggesting that a lawsuit from Adobe is coming in the next few weeks. Officially Adobe's won't make statements about such actions, but there's no question that Adobe wants their slice of the Apple pie.

Apple's Monopoly May Come To An End

The argument that may be the end all for Apple's strangle hold over the App store is that by limiting how and what platforms developers use they are restricting competition with their market share. I've read that Apple accounts for over 90% of all mobile app purchases (personally I think that's an over inflated number), even if the Android market is heating up and other platforms are coming along. With more than 50 million iPhone users, 35 million iPod Touch users, and the growing segment of iPad users they account for a huge share of the market, and by ruling their market with an iron fist they may be opening the door to the anti-trust arguments.

Not only are they blocking Flash but by blocking the flash to iPhone compiler they are effectively blocking several apps that are already built, in the works or slated to be designed. Apple has made no qualms about rejecting apps in the past, but the majority of those haven't had the backing Adobe can muster. If Adobe decides to push the issue and get the courts involved Apple may be forced to loosen their grip which in turn could open the doors for many of those banned apps.

My Thoughts

One thing is for sure it will be interesting to see where things go. Personally I'd like to see the grip that Apple holds loosened a bit. I don't see many other companies out there that have been given the leeway they have when it comes to their reign over the App store. MS faces anti-trust suites constantly over IE, and other proprietary software, yet Apple can ban and block access to Apps like Google Voice, FireFox and others simply because they feel they duplicate apps already loaded on their devices??