Perhaps because apps compiled from Flash are now allowed in the iPhone App Store again, Adobe wasn't openly disparaging Apple at its MAX developer conference this week the way it did last year.
CTO Kevin Lynch made his point more subtly instead. He showed off mobile devices that do have Flash and AIR, both the BlackBerry PlayBook (which uses AIR for its media players and entire user interface) and especially Android devices – like the Droid 2 and Logitech Google TV box given to attendees for trying out the AIR apps they develop.
And Lynch showed tablets from Samsung and Malata running the same digital magazines as the iPad.
But Adobe partner Motorola was happy to chip in with pointed remarks about the iPhone that carefully stopped short of actually naming Apple.
No Flash, no internet
"Anyone who's not giving you Flash on the mobile device is not giving you the internet," said corporate vice president Christy Wyatt, adding that Motorola was the first to ship Flash on a mobile device.
"We realised very early on that in the not too distant future the most important platform is going to be the internet for mobile and if that's true some of the internet technologies have to be fully supported," Wyatt told TechRadar.
"We've been very proactive in coming to Adobe before we launched the first Droid in coming to Adobe and saying 'what do we need to do to make Flash work as an equal citizen on a mobile device?'"
She also promised that Motorola would put Flash on set-top boxes as well as smartphones "and a variety of devices in between," which might suggest a Motorola tablet in the works.
Wyatt also claimed that having Flash and AIR apps isn't enough for a mobile device because users want full power in the browser, referring to her "aha moment" when launching the Droid.
She showed an early model to her daughter and was surprised to find her ignoring the Facebook app Motorola had worked so hard on and just using the Facebook web site. "'It's on the internet,' she told me; 'what do I need an app for?'"
