IT TOOK less than six hours for Apple fanbois to overrun Skyfire's server capacity as they thronged to get Adobe Flash support on their shiny Ithings.
One might fairly say that they flash-mobbed Skyfire's servers to get a way to view Flash.
Skyfire's browser application bridges the divide between Apple's decision not to support Adobe Flash and its ubiquity on the web by producing something that converts Flash into HTML5, a technology that has Saint Steve's blessing. Frankly we doubt that most fanbois know or care about the mechanics of being able to view Flash content, but it seems they did lap it up.
Because Skyfire's application is dependent on the firm's servers to stream content to the browser application on fanbois' Idevices, the outfit was unable to keep up with demand after just five hours. Skyfire pulled its application from the App Store saying that it, not Apple, made the decision, adding, "Skyfire is assuring users that the app's sold out status was a temporary measure taken by Skyfire, and was not the decision of Apple, Inc., which has approved the application."
The statement reveals the perception of Apple as a company that operates with an 'iron fist' policy on the App Store. That Jobs' Mob even approved Skyfire on the App Store in the first place was met with some surprise, given that it offers access to Flash content, even though transcoding is involved.
Skyfire said that once it has finished upgrading server capacity, the application will be back on the App Store.
Apparently the demand for Skyfire surprised the firm and might serve as a wake-up call for Steve Jobs. While his battle against Adobe's Flash software is ideologically sound, the fact is that so much content exists that users simply want to have the option to view it, something that is borne out by Skyfire's success. After all, if Steve Jobs charged $3 for a similar application, there is little doubt that Apple fanbois would queue round the virtual block for it.
All this goes to show that perhaps Apple's fanbois are not completely brainwashed by the sermons in the book of Jobs. Or perhaps it means that they just want to use their expensive shiny toys to the best of their capabilities.
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