Non-Flash Player

To my knowledge, even iPhones support Javascript and the JW Player will load in HTML5 mode just fine on iPhones.

For the PixelOut player however, this would be a nice workaround. It isn't an issue with Javascript but with the missing Flashplayer on iPhones. The dummy text is a bit misleading here.

Ian wrote: pity there is no overrides for the core

Actually, overrides would work in this case. You're not forced to show the mediaspace created by the player object, you could create your own in your custom layout or in the override.
You just need a container with the id "mediaspace1" in your layout. It doesn't matter if you use to generate this or if you write it yourself manually

haven't gone looking, but isn't jw player also flash based?
ie needs to have a fallback of html5
unless you're talking about the code surrounding the implementation of jw player?
- but maybe I'm wrong; but current coding of sermon_speaker doesn't allow direct playing on iphones - thus the need for workarounds.

I think the reason that sermon_speaker uses a javascript method for displaying the players / download links etc is to hide the url of the file; although I'm not sure of the necessity of this - as if you're providing a podcast anyway - the url is plainly visible there; and for anyone who really wants to go digging, it's easy enough to figure out the url from the urlencoded link in the resultant html.

My preference would be to not see javascript used at all for these functions; but simply generate the necessary html - then it might be easier to recode for specific installs by justing using the template overrides.

JW Player has a built-in support for HTML5. The javascript loading the player first checks if Flash is available and if not falls back to HTML5. It even checks if the browser supports HTML5 and if not it will offer a direct link to the file.
So as long as Javascript is enabled, the JW Player should work on any device. Even iPhones.

In the latest SermonSpeaker releases you can even set it to have HTML5 as the default mode with Flash as fallback.

I don't own an iPhone myself, but last I checked the sermons were playing without issues on iPhones and iPads using JW Player.

The reason SermonSpeaker uses Javascript is not to hide the URL. As you said this is still there in the code and if one wants to know the URL, he will find it.
The reason is mainly that there still is not a single fileformat which can be played by all browsers natively using HTML5. Flash however can play a lot of files without issues.
Also using JW Player, Flowplayer or the PixelOut Player allows a lot more control over how your page will look.

The download link is "hidden" because browsers tend to open an audio file directly instead of offering it for download. The way SermonSpeaker uses forces a download of the file.

Btw: You're using the Wordpress Audio Player (PixelOut) on your page. This one doesn't have a HTML5 fallback and only plays mp3 files. While it looks nice, it's the worst player from the 3 choices SermonSpeaker offers

OK - I think I have the picture now

So the issue really is using the javascript, or at least the message that says that it's a javascript issue - as that is what makes the iphone fail. Well - I'm guessing - as that is the stated error on screen - the one that I have replaced with my <audio></audio> tags. Maybe it is more an issue on how it is detecting the javascript - as iphone certainly usually supports it; but the fail onscreen message says a javascript issue etc. My iphones not jailbroken so I can't get to the inards of why it's making that choice.

Another guess is that the javascript method is not reliable for the player; but the same notion can be more simply achieved by layering the <audio> / <object> / <paramaters> etc tags in html - which I think is how html and html5 is designed to handle the diversity. ie correct layer order means a series of 'fallbacks'.

An interesting side note on that is that Firefox doesn't like showing mp3 files using <audio> tags - a technical licensing issue from memory; and only renders html5 if you provide an .ogg file fallback (Thus a flash player is the usual fallback in this context).

Re - the 'download' function and javascript, using a php function that drives the headers may be a bit more reliable. The less you have to rely on what the end user has enabled / installed / available on their own computer, generally the more robust the solution; mind you I think your sermon speaker looks pretty robust - and we all have reasons for making the choices we do in development - so "I no complain" as I reckon it's a brilliant piece of work

Cheers & Blessings

PS
all 3 of the players have the same difficulty on the iphone
* flowplayer 'You have no flash plugin installed'
* jwplayer renders nothing - ie only the download link appears
- thus opted for the wordpress one as the default