What Does HTML5 Mean for Flash (and Flimp)?

Like you, every day I read articles about how HTML5 is going to revolutionize the way marketers use various media to communicate. This is especially true of video, as the new
To be clear: We love Flash. Flimp is built on Flash. We have no plans to change anything about the platform to make it less Flash-dependent because despite what you might have heard, we find Flash to be remarkably stable, secure, and user-friendly. So there.

HTML5 and Web Video Marketing

So HTML5’s tag requires a universal video codec. H.264 seems to be the front-runner at the moment, although some browsers such as Firefox and Opera refuse to support it in favor of the open-source (and allegedly inferior-quality) Ogg Theora codec. The point is that if either H.264 or Ogg Theora were to become the HTML5 standard right now, large percentages of your viewing audience would be left in the lurch. 
Compare this to Flash video. Flash is installed on roughly 98% of computers worldwide, and is supported by all browsers. That means that 98% of your audience is able to view your video. You simply cannot say that about any other video format, HTML5-standard or otherwise.

HTML5 and Mobile Marketing

We all know that as of this very moment in time, the biggest concern in mobile marketing is making sure your messages are compatible with the iPhone’s specs. These specs do not include support for Flash (or, by extension, for Flimp). But did you know that according to the Wall Street Journal, only 16.6% of all smartphone users have iPhones? That means that 83.4% of smartphone users own phones made by companies that have not sworn off Flash.
Now, Flash support for the 83% of non-iPhones has been a long time coming. But the impending release of Flash 10.1 will bring with it unprecedented access to the mobile market for marketers and Flash developers. In short, when Adobe releases this very important Flash update, your Android, Blackberry and Nokia smartphones will all be able to display flimps. 

What This Means for Flimp

What all this means is that we’re not going anywhere. We are obviously disappointed that Apple’s support for Flash is, let’s say, less than enthusiastic. But we’re certain that this is not indicative of a larger trend. In fact, we see things moving the opposite direction pending the release of Flash 10.1, which is testing very well when compared to H.264. 
So I’ll answer the question posed in the title of this post the same way we’ve answered questions about competing services and technologies in the past: Flash and HTML5 are both tools. It’s your responsibility as a communicator to know which tool works best in a given situation, and to adapt accordingly. We believe Flash is and always will be a valuable tool, and as long as there is Flash, there will be Flimp.

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