One of the biggest controversies surrounding the recent iPhone and iPad announcements has been the lack of support (actually the “prohibition”) of Flash authored apps on the Apple platforms.

Now mobile ad network Greystripe has entered the fray, partnering with Adobe to help advertisers use Flash ads in the iPhone and iPad platforms.

At the heart of the matter is the fact that Apple has not included support for Adobe’s Flash in the iPhone and iPad operating systems, preferring instead to focus on the HTML5 standard for rich media. Even further, Apple has said that apps which are authored on Flash style platforms will not be approved for the iTunes App Store.

Apple and Adobe have both been quite public with their negative comments about the other’s position. Apple CEO Steve Jobs wrote an open letter citing several reasons for not supporting Flash, including lack of openness, security, performance, and lack of support for touch-based devices. But most importantly was the “platform” issue: “We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform.”

In response, Adobe placed full page ads, claiming that Apple was trying to take away people’s freedom to create.

Adobe also announced that they were canceling any further development of products for the iPhone/iPad platform.

Keeping the public dispute going, Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller replied in a statement that Apple was in fact more open than Adobe: “Someone has it backwards–it is HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and H.264 (all supported by the iPhone and iPad) that are open and standard, while Adobe’s Flash is closed and proprietary.”

Now the latest development is that Adobe has partnered with mobile ad network Greystripe to bring Flash based ads to the iPhone/iPad platform. Greystripe has for many months advertised their ability to translate rich media Flash ads into HTML5 for use on the iPhone. (see MobiAD article Unilever’s AXE Reveals Effectiveness Of iPhone “Flash” Ad).

Greystripe says that their ad solution “is comparable to Apple’s recently introduced iAds unit; however, unlike iAds, they will be authored with Adobe® Flash® authoring tools, priced at a fraction of the cost, and come in both expandable banner and full screen interstitial formats. ”

Michael Chang, CEO, Greystripe, said “Our collaboration with Adobe underscores our commitment to bringing engaging, rich media, cross platform ad solutions to our advertisers. We’re thrilled to announce this proven alternative to iAds and offer digital agencies and brand advertisers the broadest possible reach across platforms and devices worldwide.” (see the MobiAD Interview with Michael Chang).

This somewhat conciliatory move from Adobe may not really be too surprising, as they clearly have an interest in maintaining Flash as the prevalent environment for rich media development. And given that the iPhone/iPad customer set is likely to be where leading edge advertising is developed, Adobe may feel this is too important a market to be locked out of.

Ricky Liversidge, VP of Product Marketing for the Flash Platform at Adobe said, “By working with Greystripe, a leading provider of Flash authored advertising for mobile devices, we enable agencies to benefit from the power of the Flash platform while also targeting devices with HTML5.”