Adobe touts iPad workaround but Apple's Jobs unimpressed

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Apple may have banned Adobe Systems' Flash platform from its iPhone and iPad, but Adobe isn't abandoning Apple's popular mobile devices.

Adobe, the San Jose-based maker of graphic design and Internet software, on Tuesday announced the availability of new digital viewer technology that lets publishers use its InDesign software to create applications for Apple's iPad.

Adobe worked with magazine giant Conde Nast, publisher of Wired, to create the new viewer technology.

"Our partnership with Adobe allowed us to re-imagine and rebuild a print issue into an amazing digital magazine experience on iPad," Thomas Wallace, editorial director of Conde Nast, said in a statement released by Adobe.

Wired has created a $4.99-a-copy app for the iPad starting with its June issue.

"Adobe's work with Wired has resulted in a digital magazine format that creates an immersive experience, allowing a publication's unique content, look and feel and advertising to stand out in the digital realm," David Burkett, Adobe's vice president and general manager of creative solutions, said in a statement.

"We aim to make our digital viewer software available to all publishers soon and plan to deliver versions that work across multiple hardware platforms," he said.

But CEO Steve Jobs doesn't seem to be budging from an April 29 post describing Flash as slow, power hungry and unsuitable for some of Apple's products, and detailing his preference for the new HTML5.

Flash looks as though "it's had its day," Jobs said at a technology conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday. "The way we've succeeded is by choosing which horses to ride, technically," he said. Jobs added that: "If you choose wisely, you can save yourself an enormous amount of work."

Material from Bloomberg News included.