Adobe’s CEO Responds to Steve Jobs’ Rant about Flash

Earlier today, Steve Jobs pulled out a shotgun and fired away at Adobe at point-blank range. Jobs laid out a six-point plan of attack detailing why Adobe Flash is detrimental to the Mac and iPhone/iPod touch/iPad mobile platforms and why the web should just let the “proprietary standard” die.

Well, we knew that Adobe wasn’t just gonna let Jobs’ barbs fly without a response — and like clockwork, Adobe’s CEO has answered back. The Wall Street Journal’s Alan Murray interviewed Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen about Jobs’ comments and here are a few of the highlights:

• Adobe believes in open content; Apple is threatened by Adobe’s penchant for creating cross-platform software.
• Narayen likens the fight between Apple and Adobe to the rift between Jon and Kate Gosselin.
• Jobs’ open letter was merely a “smokescreen”; Apple’s restrictions are stifling development and have “nothing to do with technology”.
• Narayen refutes the assertion that Adobe Flash is the main reason why Macs crash.
• Jobs’ comments about poor battery life on machines using Adobe Flash are “patently false”.
• “It doesn’t benefit Apple, and that’s why you see this reaction”.
• Narayen asserts that the consumer should be able to decide which technologies they want to use and he thinks that a multi-platform world is where the future is headed.

Interestingly, Narayen doesn’t make any mention of HTML5 which Jobs suggests that developers use to crush Adobe Flash. You can view the full interview here at the WSJ’s Digits blog.