(Image courtesy of 9to5Mac)

It appears that even more trouble will be breathing down Cupertino’s neck soon, as European Union regulators are joining forces with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) here in the U.S. in a probe of Apple’s policy regarding “mobile software developers.” (Translation: Flash on the iPhone.)

9to5Mac is reporting on the latest thorny issue that Apple will have to confront on the controversial “Flash on iPhone” policy, which has now attracted the attention of European Union (EU) regulators as well as those from the FTC here in the United States. Apple claims that Adobe’s Flash isn’t “sufficiently advanced for use on smartphones” and has effectively banned its use on their iOS devices, both as a platform as well as its use to help program apps.

The controversy started with a number of critical comments from Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who has held firm to his belief that Flash uses too much power and limits the performance of smartphones, on top of a heap of other concerns that make the technology “unsuitable” for mobile devices.

Adobe hasn’t taken the attacks lying down, moving swiftly to get a mobile-friendly port of Flash onto competing devices and taking their concerns to the Federal Trade Commission, who officially opened a probe of the complaints in June.

According to sources at The New York Post, the European Union has now joined in the fun after recently adopting a new “Digital Agenda” aimed at encouraging interoperability between technologies. The joint probe is expected to last six months.

We’d sure like to be a fly on the wall during those conference calls…

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