Skyfire launches flash browser for iPhone

Skyfire launches flash browser for iPhone

On wednesday Skyfire began selling what it called as the first mobile browser that could deliver flash video to an iPhone/ iPod touch. 

Hours later it was pulled because huge demand overwhelmed their servers. Senior Director, Robert Oberhofer, at Skyfire said until they could increase their server capacity they would not be making any more sales.

Skyfire 2.0 is a fully-fledged web browser that functioned very similar to safari. Before it was pulled it was selling for $2.99 USD on the Apple (AAPL) app store. 

What does this tell us? 

Well the first and obvious conclusion is that people still want flash...really bad. 

In the 5 hours that it was available it became the top grossing app and third highest, paid app, overall. These are some alarming statistics and will sure to be sending a message to Apple. That despite their attempts to replace flash with HTML5, flash is still very popular.

How does it work? 

Tech guru Rob Walch explains the complex process the Skyfire browser goes through to play flash...

"A user has to navigate to a website where Flash video is detected. It is then downloaded to Skyfire's servers where it is converted to HTML5," he explained. "Then it gives the user a button to play the video. Everyone thinks they are running Flash on the browser, but they are not."  

Ironically the Skyfire mobile browser is not the perfect way to display flash, it does not work for game animation or ads, which limits its usefulness.  

So will this prompt Apple to end the feud with Adobe?

The general consensus in the Tech world is no. These two companies are very much at war and neither looks to be backing down anytime soon. 

We want to know what you think.

Will you be downloading this App when it becomes available again?

 How much do you use flash? 

Leave your comments bellow.