i need adobe flash player on my ipad....

You mean Adobe ppppppllleeeassssseeeeeeeeeee, right?

No Flash for iPads, iPhones, or iPods

Here's why there's is no Flash available for iDevices or other mobile devices. Adobe was unable to provide a product that was suitable to the needs of battery powered mobile devices used for Internet browsing. Existing Flash technology used too much memory, ate battery life, and was buggy. Simply put Flash did not work well on mobile devices.

Apple's Steve Jobs led the escape from Flash dependency when Apple introduced the iPhone, and later introduced the iPad. There was a hue and cry over the omission. Time proved Jobs was right on target.

So this is why there is no Flash for your iPhone or iPad or iPod nor for most SmartPhones. Flash has been abandoned by many sites in favor of supported technologies such as HTML5 or by providing their own custom app.

Here is Steve Jobs official comment on his momentous decision to omit Flash from iDevices: Steve Jobs on Flash.

Here is Adobe's later announcement to cease development of Flash for mobile devices: Adobe on Mobile Flash.

Now, you are not necessarily out on a limb. There are some apps that can display some Flash, but don't count on there ability to display anything using Flash.

Apps that can display some Flash from the Web:

• Puffin
• SkyFire
• Photon Flash
• Browse2Go
• iSwifter

Also, note that many sites that use Flash provide their own app for accessing their material. So check with your favorite sites and find out if "there's an app for that."

That is the politically correct answer. the real answer is 2-fold: 1 apple HATES HATES HATES adobe (the feeling is mutual). 2 flash is slowly going away. reason #2, and "battery life", is really just an excuse by apple to ditch an adobe product. And for a consumer producy this may not be a big deal. However, flash is still used a lot in enterprise. This is yet another example of how Apple pushes consumer devices onto enterprise/education without having any legitimate way to manage, deploy, and support them.

FYI, flash may not be easy on batteries, but how often does one actual have flash loaded? On android devices running flash it's only really when watching embedded videos (fox news, cnn, cbs local affiliates, and still a vast majority of other news sites use flash exclusively for video streaming) or small applets for chat. how often do you do that? not often enough where it would be a serious battery drain. the entire "battery life" argument is entirely smoke and mirrors. it's completely baseless in the real world.

Then why has Adobe stopped developing mobile flash as of November 9th, 2011?

for reason # 2 - Flash is slowly going away. Adobe is no longer adding features to mobile flash player, but are actively fixing bugs and security holes. Flash works fine on other devices. I wish it worked on iOS because there are many educational sites that use it that are not accessible on our iPads.

The Rover app will allow you to access many widely used flash based educational websites such as Starfall and BrainPop.

I have talked to several companies who are actively porting their educational offerings to html5 and/ or other app based interfaces as they realize the days of Flash are numbered.

Not actively developing (new features) and stopped supporting (still fixing bugs and maintaining) are very different things. Correct Nov 2011 Adobe realised much new consumer content will be HTML5 or app based but they are very much maintaining flash for the literally hundreds of thousands of existing customers and enterprise solutions that still use flash. Moreover, which ever way you slice it, flash will still be round for YEARS yet. Answer: so it's clear for Apple, being the first to jump from Adobe or to switch to a technology THEY prefer, trumps the needs of thousands if not millions of their CUSTOMERS who will still have need for Flash for at least 2-3 years more by which time the current iPad will be as obsolete as Flash. Just another example of that special kind of arrogance apple style....

The bottom line is that even Adobe realizes that Flash is not suitable for mobile platforms such as the iPad and Android devices. Personally, I am weary of the constant need to update Flash ( to fix security holes for the most part) on our organizations desktops and laptops for multiple browsers and OS's. Any single piece of software that needs to be updated so often to fix security issues is fundamentally flawed. I can understand the need to update an entire OS on a regular basis but a software program? Really.

I would like the OPTION of viewing Flash if I want to. I don't like being told by Apple that they really know what's best for me. Android devices seem to do OK with Flash. What's Apple's problem?

You aren't being "told by Apple" that they know best. Adobe (the maker of Flash) has not created a version capable of running on any iOS device.

Apple isn't telling you anything, other than to not buy their products if they do not have the features you want. If Flash is essential to your user experience then go and buy a device that supports Flash.

Of course you must realize that the mobile options supporting Flash are becoming less all the time as Adobe drops support for more and more of the mobile platforms.

Allan

Apple would not allow Flash on the iPad when the device first came out. It was a classic case of claiming to know what was best for their customers.

Whatever. The bottom line is that there is no version of Flash for iOS, Adobe has dropped all further development of the mobile Flash players, and the chances that Apple will create their own is vanishingly small. Further debate about the merits of that decision here are fruitless. If you must have a device the can run Flash and the various substitute options don't work, by some other device. Note, though, that as of August 15th, you won't be able to do a new install of Flash on an Android device either, and cannot do so now on Android 4.1

And judging from iDevice sales, it seems Apple does know what's best.