I’ve got to be honest and say we’ve never run a Flash based mobile ad, so part of me is thinking that this isn’t going to affect us that much, however, it does mean those developers who were developing products across all three platforms now only have to worry about two. This, we can only hope equates to better time-to-market, reduced testing times and hopefully less complex development cycles.

Importantly it now signifies to us where we need to focus our product attention on development. So, the question is, do you have the requisite skills in your team (and personally) to support these technologies? If you don’t are there others in your wider organisation who do and if they’re not there either how will you ensure you meet these future requirements & needs of your advertisers & agencies?

CNet have a video article covering the news:

Here’s some stories (apologies if some of them are a bit sycophantic about Apple).
Wired: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/11/adobe-mobile-flash-dead/
Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/nov/09/adobe-flash-mobile-dead
LA Times: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/11/adobe-to-end-mobile-flash-plug-in-development.html

http://www.w3.org/TR/mwabp/

1. Use Cookies Sparingly
2. Use Appropriate Client-Side Storage Technologies for Local Data
3. Replicate Local Data
4. Do not Execute Unescaped or Untrusted JSON data
5. Ensure the User is Informed About Use of Personal and Device Information
6. Enable Automatic Sign-in
7. Use Transfer Compression
8. Minimize Application and Data Size
9. Avoid Redirects
10. Optimize Network Requests
11. Minimize External Resources
12. Aggregate Static Images into a Single Composite Resource (Sprites)
13. Include Background Images Inline in CSS Style Sheets
14. Cache Resources By Fingerprinting Resource References
15. Cache AJAX Data
16. Do not Send Cookie Information Unnecessarily
17. Keep DOM Size Reasonable
18. Optimize For Application Start-up Time
19. Minimize Perceived Latency
20. Design for Multiple Interaction Methods
21. Preserve Focus on Dynamic Page Updates
22. Use Fragment IDs to Drive Application View
23. Make Telephone Numbers “Click-to-Call”
24. Ensure Paragraph Text Flows
25. Ensure Consistency Of State Between Devices
26. Consider Mobile Specific Technologies for Initiating Web Applications
27. Use Meta Viewport Element To Identify Desired Screen Size
28. Prefer Server-side Detection Where Possible
29. Use Client-side Detection When Necessary
30. Use Device Classification to Simplify Content Adaptation
31. Support a non-JavaScript Variant if Appropriate
32. Offer Users a Choice of Interfaces
33. Consider Use Of Canvas Element or SVG For Dynamic Graphics
34. Inform the User About Automatic Network Access
35. Provide Sufficient Means to Control Automatic Network Access

http://www.w3.org/TR/mwabp/

I’m keen to have a mooch/play around under the hood, hopefully I’ll be proved wrong. The current Apple App submission process is far from being a smooth and easy process, it’s slow and cumbersome and communication is poor. Now add in iAds to the mix… and what if Apple don’t like the ads we’ve submitted, what if they don;t meet their exacting criteria? Only time will tell. And lastly…

And lastly, Apple are demanding 40% of revenues, which seems rather high.

Update: 2010-04-13 17:18pm – Here’s some links to related articles as the story unfolds.
Apple to Lend Hand to iAd Producers [AdAge]
Apple iAd Platform: A Case of the Rich Getting Richer [PCMag]
iAd for the Win as iPhone 4′s Biggest Blockbuster [Macnewsworld]
Is Apple Trying to Create a Mobile Ad Monopoly on the iPhone? [148apps]

The latter article deals with a clause in the Developers agreement that states:
Section 3.3.9:
…the use of third party software in Your Application to collect and send Device Data to a third party for processing or analysis is expressly prohibited.

“If you build your application with features based on a user’s location, make sure these features provide beneficial information, if your app uses location-based information primarily to enable mobile advertisers to deliver targeted ads based on a user’s location, your app will be returned to you by the App Store Review Team for modification before it can be posted to the App Store.”

Original article: developer.apple.com
I’m not too sure how this will affect existing applications or whether they’ll be pulled from the Appstore. But if you’re building mobile apps for the iPhone bear this in mind.