“Adobe is lazy. Apple does not support Flash because it is so buggy” said Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, during a Town Hall company meeting.

Two months after the incident, an Adobe employee reply’s via blog,  “Go Screw Yourself, Apple”.

The gloves are on – it’s evident that these two heavyweights are ready to get in the ring. CreativeFeed breaks it down:

Two Top Tech Heavyweights – The Tale of the Tape

Surprisingly, these two giants were tag-team partners back in the day. Adobe and Apple used to have a good relationship. Apple used to own 20% of Adobe for a few years and even now, both companies still work together to serve the creative community. However, that is where their joint interests end.

The Apple iPhone and iPad have never supported flash, one of Adobe’s core offerings. In fact, Apple’s terms-of-service agreement prohibits it. No matter how much customers speculate and demand it, Steve Jobs refuses, and even wrote an open letter titled, “Thoughts on Flash“, stating his reasons.

As a result, Flash (and Adobe), lack a presence in mobile browsing, an industry that has exponentially grown in recent years.  Communities proficient in the development of flash and users (95% chance it includes you) currently suffer from limited web browsing freedom.

Two months after Steve Jobs’ manifesto, Adobe has finally responded with their marketing campaign called, “Freedom of Flash”, with a message of choice, open markets and love.

The Advertisements:

In today’s New York Times and Washington Post, enormous print ads were placed like the one seen below.

Online Display ads like this were seen on New York Times, Engadget and their own site, addressing Apple’s recent spate of clear and direct attacks against the company and its products.

The Letter:

Founders of Adobe, John Warnock and Chuck Geschke (pictured above), also replied with a letter titled, Our thoughts on open markets, which discusses Apple’s clear and direct attacks against the company and its products.

The Site:

Adobe creates a site, The truth about Flash, showcasing statics to “set the record straight” because “a fair amount of incorrect information has been communicated”

Our View from Ringside:

It looks like this bout is going to go the full 12 rounds, since these guys are just getting warmed up – and neither Jobs nor Geschke back down from a good fight. CreativeFeed can imagine Adobe continuing to go great lengths to defend its reputation and products in the open market, using consumer pull strategies to push Apple into opening up.  The question is – will any of this be enough to sway Jobs and his lust to wrestle power away from media industries and consolidate it in Apple products. (e.g. Music – iTunes, Books – the iPad bookstore and potentially the future of mobile viewing without Flash). Most likely not, since Jobs has never been one to answer to anyone, even his loyal fan base of Apple followers. (Okay, perhaps stockholders, but even that relationship tilts in his favor in a power struggle).

In regards to the opinions of both respective companies, it’s questionable whether either of them is truly “open” or representative of a “free market” as their letters and messages suggest. Adobe and Apple have both built proprietary products to gain competitive advantage, which they deserve to do. As this fight continues to rage on, we’ll see the future of how we all view and consume media play out. Our question – will either of their tactics, as the mudslinging gets worse, sully their images?  Or will the “free” market winner take home the Championship Belt and be dubbed King?