Steve Jobs is perhaps best known for the groundbreaking, market-leading products he has introduced under his reign as Apple CEO. He and his team created products that have literally revolutionised industries, or even nearly created new markets for tablets and media players, and that’s what the general public recognise his work for. However, his time at Apple also contributed heavily to the development of the web, including some of the very web apps we used every day.
If you read this blog, you’re likely to have heard of Steve Jobs’ war on Flash and his notorious exclusion of the software on Apple’s mobile devices. Apple’s popularity has allowed them to have a massive influence on what technologies we use on the web, and if your an iPad or iPhone user, you won’t be using Flash because Jobs said no.
The Great War on Flash
Symantec recently highlighted Flash for having one of the worst security records in 2009. We also know first hand that Flash is the number one reason Macs crash. We have been working with Adobe to fix these problems, but they have persisted for several years now. We don’t want to reduce the reliability and security of our iPhones, iPods and iPads by adding Flash.
One of Steve Jobs’ most notorious decisions in the software world has been his exclusion of Flash on mobile devices. iOS plus Flash just doesn’t exist, killing one of the web’s biggest technologies. Steve even wrote an open letter, publicly condemning Flash for a number of reasons.
This post is not about this war, but rather Steve Jobs’ contributions to the web, but I’ll still visit a few of those points that Jobs publicised. Firstly, he pushed HTML 5 as an alternative because it’s open, unlike Adobe’s proprietary Flash, meaning that it’s much less expensive to push out an HTML webpage than it is to author the same thing in Flash. That’s a fair point. He also touched on the reliability and security on Flash, and the fact that running a Flash plugin can shorten the battery life of a device as well.
However, the biggest point that I can vouch for is performance. Flash makes Macs crash, or at least run so loud and hot that it’s uncomfortable. Watching Flash video on my MacBook Air always makes the fans rev up to a sound that nearly equals that of the video, and it becomes extremely hot near the top.
Editor’s note: Flash isn’t much better on a PC. On my Windows 7-powered netbook, you can hardly play back a standard quality YouTube video in Flash without stuttering and the fans kicking into overdrive. In Ubuntu, Flash works even worse. Meanwhile, 720p h.264 video plays back just fine without overtaxing the machine.
Apple now showcases the effects of HTML5.
HTML5 for Interactivity
Where Steve Jobs really contributed to web apps was in his push for HTML 5 to replace Flash for interactivity. Apple demonstrated this with a technical demo page, showing how HTML5 could be used to manipulate typography, image transitions, 360-degree images and virtual reality.
A few years ago, any depth of interactivity on the web pretty much meant Flash, because it was the nearest comparison to native software. However, we’ve come to see some pretty awesome stuff being created with HTML5 and CSS3. Not only is it better because it’s better performance-wise and doesn’t require a battery-hogging, fan-inducing plugin, but it’s still advancing and should get better with each release.
Web Video
Not only did Steve Jobs exclude Flash use on iOS, but he started to try and push Flash usage away from entire markets. A lot of the web’s video is now powered by H.264 video, running without a Flash container, meaning it doesn’t require a plugin if you’re using a modern browser. If a website (including YouTube, BBC iPlayer, CNET TV and the like) primarily uses Flash, many now at least offer up a H.264 version when browsing on an iOS device.
YouTube is currently trailing HTML5 players.
Bringing the Web to Mobile
Aside from his push for new web technologies, Steve Jobs must be credited for bringing the real web to mobile. I remember his introduction (well not literally, I watched it a few years late) of the original iPhone, showing that Safari could display the “full” web, unlike rival smartphones. In 2008, mobile web usage was around 0.6% of total browsing, but July’s was over 7%.
Even if you don’t credit this rise to the iPhone and iPad, Apple and Steve Jobs contributed to the development of WebKit, which powers most other mobile browsers including the browser on Android.
Final Thought
Steve Jobs has made a massive contribution to technology. Love him or hate him, just step back from your computer – Mac, PC, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, whatever – and just imagine a world without him. He effected so many changes on technology because he took a stand for the tech he wanted to see, and the industry responded. Technology and the web would be very different.
For more coverage on Steve Job’s influence on web apps, check our our editor’s post What Web App Developers Can Learn From Steve Jobs.