OnLive Launches Premium 'Desktop Plus' with Flash and PDF-Enabled Web Browser

Last month, OnLive introduced its free OnLive Desktop service that allows users to run virtual instances of Microsoft Office apps streamed from OnLive's remote PCs to the users' iPads. The company has now added Adobe Acrobat Reader support to the service and introduced a paid "Desktop Plus" subscription service to provide enhanced functionality including priority access and a Flash- and PDF-enabled browser experience. OnLive Desktop Plus is priced at $4.99 per month.

The free OnLive Desktop App, currently available on iPad—and coming soon to Android, PC, Mac, TVs and monitors—delivers no-compromise, media-rich, instant-response Windows applications including Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint software, and as of today, Adobe Reader for PDFs, along with 2GB of cloud storage. OnLive Desktop Plus, available for $4.99/month at www.desktop.onlive.com, provides all OnLive Desktop Standard features plus OnLive’s gigabit-speed accelerated browsing experience with full Flash player capability. With OnLive Desktop Plus, the iPad not only becomes 100% Flash compatible, it becomes the world’s fastest mobile Flash player.

As with the original OnLive Desktop service, there is some lag in responding to touch input and visual artifacts when moving quickly through documents or web pages. The lag made it somewhat difficult to work with interactive Flash-based content such as games in our testing, but the service does allow for decent viewing of Flash video content on the web.

onlive desktop plus
While that slight lag is a function of the time needed for data to transfer between OnLive's servers and the user's iPad, OnLive's PCs themselves are connected to the Internet with gigabit connections, making for very fast loading of content and data transfers, which is then optimized for the iPad's display and passed along to the user.

OnLive is planning yet another tier of service, a $9.99/month "Pro" level that will offer additional PC applications for use from the iPad and an upgrade from to 50 GB of storage, up from 2 GB on the regular and Plus levels.

Related Roundup: iPad
Tag: OnLive
Buyer's Guide: iPad (Neutral)
Related Forum: iPad

Popular Stories

apple store down feature

Here's Why the Apple Store is Going Down

Thursday November 27, 2025 1:01 pm PST by
Apple's online store is going down for a few hours on a rolling country-by-country basis right now, but do not get your hopes up for new products. Apple takes its online store down for a few hours ahead of Black Friday every year to tease/prepare for its annual gift card offer with the purchase of select products. The store already went down and came back online in Australia and New Zealand, ...
iPhone Pocket Short

iPhone Pocket is Now Completely Sold Out Worldwide

Tuesday November 25, 2025 7:16 am PST by
Apple recently teamed up with Japanese fashion brand ISSEY MIYAKE to create the iPhone Pocket, a limited-edition knitted accessory designed to carry an iPhone. However, it is now completely sold out in all countries where it was released. iPhone Pocket became available to order on Apple's online store starting Friday, November 14, in the United States, France, China, Italy, Japan, Singapore, ...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Foldable iPhone to Debut These Three Breakthrough Features

Tuesday November 25, 2025 7:09 am PST by
Apple's first foldable iPhone is expected to launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models in fall 2026, and it's shaping up to include three standout features that could set it apart from the competition. The book-style foldable will reportedly feature an industry-first 24-megapixel under-display camera built into the inner display, according to a recent JP Morgan equity research report. That...
streaming black friday 2025

Black Friday Streaming Deals Include Big Savings on Disney+, Hulu, Apple TV, and More

Monday November 24, 2025 8:03 am PST by
We've been focusing on deals on physical products over the past few weeks, but Black Friday is also a great time of year to purchase a streaming membership. Some of the biggest services have great discounts for new and select returning members this week, including Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a...
streaming black friday 2025

Best Black Friday Streaming Deals - Save Big on Apple TV, Disney+, Hulu, and More

Thursday November 27, 2025 1:14 pm PST by
We've been focusing on deals on physical products over the past few weeks, but Black Friday is also a great time of year to purchase a streaming membership. Some of the biggest services have great discounts for new and select returning members this week, including Apple TV, Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When...
General Black Friday Deals 25 Red Green

The 30+ Best Black Friday Apple Deals on AirPods, iPads, MacBooks, and More

Thursday November 27, 2025 6:46 am PST by
Black Friday is here, and as always this is the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. In this article, the majority of the discounts will be found on Amazon. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which...
General Apps Messages Redux

Singapore Orders Changes to iMessage by December

Tuesday November 25, 2025 6:39 am PST by
Singapore has ordered Apple to block or filter messages on iMessage that impersonate government agencies, requiring the company to implement new anti-spoofing protections by December as part of efforts to curb rising online scams, the Straits Times reports. Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that it had issued an Implementation Directive to Apple under the Online Criminal Harms...
New Intel Logo

Apple and Intel Rumored to Partner on Mac Chips Again in a New Way

Friday November 28, 2025 7:33 am PST by
While all Macs are now powered by Apple's custom-designed chips, a new rumor claims that Apple may rekindle its partnership with Intel, albeit in a new and limited way. Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today said Intel is expected to begin shipping Apple's lowest-end M-series chip as early as mid-2027. Kuo said Apple plans to utilize Intel's 18A process, which is the "earliest...

Top Rated Comments

WiiDSmoker Avatar
180 months ago
"We tried to shoe-horn a desktop OS onto a tablet. It didn't work when we did it, so we're going to have someone else do it for us."
- Some guy at Microsoft, as he swims around in red tape.

All I can say is "LOL", and "Get the hell off my iPad."

You try way too hard.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PeterQVenkman Avatar
180 months ago
Awesome product, but should be catering to the HTML5 wave of the future.

The iPad does that natively with Safari. This fills a different need for those that have it. Our old timesheet software was only in flash.... the horror.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Code.Red Avatar
180 months ago
How is this app different from SplashTop?

Instead of connecting to your computer at home, you connect to OnLive's computers. One of the benefits of this, as stated in the article, is that OnLive's computers are connected with ultrafast Internet connections..
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Unggoy Murderer Avatar
180 months ago
Cool, roll-over over that Flash menu with your curs... oh wait. :cool:
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SteveAbootman Avatar
180 months ago
Instead of connecting to your computer at home, you connect to OnLive's computers. One of the benefits of this, as stated in the article, is that OnLive's computers are connected with ultrafast Internet connections..

And one of the downsides of this is that you don't have full control over the VM. For 5 bucks you get the standard image and can't change it. Sounds like for 10 a month you can install additional programs, though I'd guess this is limited.

With Splashtop you connect to your local PC and can do whatever you want. I'd much rather pay the 3 bucks up front for that program than shell out 10 a month for OnLive.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
a.gomez Avatar
180 months ago
Awesome product, but should be catering to the HTML5 wave of the future.

some of us live (and work) in the present
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)