Apple Launches Showcase of HTML 5 Technologies (NASDAQ: AAPL)

Just days before the World Wide Developer Conference, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has created a number of demonstrations based on the next generation of web standards known as HTML 5.

The “HTML5 Showcase” features seven different demonstration, each aimed at showing off a specific capability of what new web browsers will be able to accomplish. The demo’s include audio and video playback, typography, image manipulation, virtual-reality panoramas and 360 degree view presentations.

The new content has been largely perceived as a way to confront critics on Apple’s decision not o include support for Adobe’s flash on its mobile devices. The showcase includes a link to Steve Jobs’ blog-post titled “Thoughts on Flash” and adds that the showcase of HTML 5 capabilities “aren’t add-ons to the web. They are the web.”

Currently, the demos only work on the most recent versions of Safari that can be found on the Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices. Users of other browsers, even those based off the same underlying technology as Safari (WebKit), are instructed to download Apple’s browser.

The website says that “soon other modern browsers will take advantage of these same web standards.”

Apple has a history of leading the way in dropping legacy technologies in favor of adopting new technologies. Apple was one of the first companies to not include a floppy disk on their computers. Apple also led the way in removing legacy ports from computers.

Last week at the D8 conference, Jobs said “Flash looks like it had its day but it’s waning, and HTML5 looks like it’s coming up.”