tl;dr at the bottom …

Background:

Adobe has made moves to allow Flash applications to compile to executable applications for desktop use through the AIR runtime. Adobe announced that Flash CS5 will allow flash applications to compile through AIR to iPhone applications. This would expose worlds of nice API and functionality and ease of deployment to the iPhone stores.

Then, Apple updates its Terms of Service in 4.0 to say that “Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited.” Essentially, this term bars Flash from compiling to the iPhone. This would also theoretically ban other systems like Unity3D and Ston3D from doing the same thing, but the current forecast is that those applications will likely be allowed through while Flash is being targeted.

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