'Though H.264 plays an important role in video, as our goal is to enable open innovation, support for the codec will be removed and our resources directed towards completely open codec technologies. A relatively straight discussion of the technology issues is here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20028196-264.html?tag=mncol;txt.
But there's also thinking that the codec decisions are part of developing conflict between Google and Apple. See http://www.digitalsociety.org/2011/01/google-is-killing-html5-to-harm-apple-ios/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=google-is-killing-html5-to-harm-apple-ios
Apple made the decision to not allow Adobe Flash on iOS devices because they want to retain sole control over application distribution and design with their App Store, a technology decision with business implications.
The current near-universal delivery platform was Adobe Flash but that was losing steam because of its inability to reach Apple iOS.
By crippling HTML5 H.264 under the guise of supporting Google’s VP8 codec (which is a nonstarter because VP8 is inferior to H.264, carries potential patent infringement liabilities, and H.264 is entrenched in billions of hardware devices while VP8 has no current support), the only remaining viable option for most content producers is to continue delivering H.264 via the Adobe Flash platform or via Microsoft Silverlight like Netflix, says George Ou.
Larger content providers will be able to deliver H.264 compressed video on both Flash or Silverlight for most of the world and HTML5 just for Apple iOS devices, but it will remain difficult to reach Apple iOS devices. Google Android devices will be able to reach Flash websites like Windows or Mac Personal Computers which gives them a leg up on Apple, Ou argues.
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