Unless you've been away from the internet over the past 24 hours then you've seen news and commentary about Silverlight coming to Nokia devices.
With this announcement it validates what we've been doing for the past five years - leveraging our client run-time (Flash Player) for non-PC devices, primarily mobile phones. With Microsoft now porting Silverlight to a mobile phone manufacturer, it may be seen as an acknowledgment that having a consistent run-time across devices and platforms is key for developers and brand owners moving forward.
For media owners, large companies and developers being able to reuse assets and code originally created for the web for mobile devices saves time and allows them to maintain the branding and appearance of their content. This is true today with Flash web developers creating Flash Lite experiences and with the recent launch of AIR, these same developers can extend similar experiences to the desktop space on both Windows and Mac today and Linux later this year.
We have developed a strategic and productive relationship with Nokia over the past several years and this relationship will continue. Adobe and Nokia have worked closely together to deliver Flash Lite pre-installed on more than 70 Nokia mobile handsets including all S60 devices, most Series 40 devices and their N800 and N810 internet tablet devices. These are devices today that have Flash Lite pre-installed and can accept developer content - today.
If you take a step back and look at what our partners (Nokia, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, others) have done with Flash Lite, over 450 million Flash enabled handsets and devices have shipped worldwide and we are on-track to see 1 billion devices with Flash by 2010. This is done by our partners pre-installing Flash Lite on the devices so when consumers get their handsets, our technology is already there.
So if you're a Flash Lite developer or considering Flash you may be asking yourself "what does this mean for Flash Lite?" Short answer - not much. Until Microsoft and Nokia can provide more details around Silverlight then your guess is as good as mine. What's important for Flash Lite developers to know is you can continue to create content for Nokia, Sony Ericsson and other devices and distribute it to consumers, whether it's just for awareness or to monetize. Regarding Flash Lite - the tools, content emulation, community support, devices and distribution options are all available - today.
If you're a mobile developer or business decision maker considering any technology for mobile development then there are questions that you should have:
Obviously this is a great topic for discussion so please leave comments.
With this announcement it validates what we've been doing for the past five years - leveraging our client run-time (Flash Player) for non-PC devices, primarily mobile phones. With Microsoft now porting Silverlight to a mobile phone manufacturer, it may be seen as an acknowledgment that having a consistent run-time across devices and platforms is key for developers and brand owners moving forward.
For media owners, large companies and developers being able to reuse assets and code originally created for the web for mobile devices saves time and allows them to maintain the branding and appearance of their content. This is true today with Flash web developers creating Flash Lite experiences and with the recent launch of AIR, these same developers can extend similar experiences to the desktop space on both Windows and Mac today and Linux later this year.
We have developed a strategic and productive relationship with Nokia over the past several years and this relationship will continue. Adobe and Nokia have worked closely together to deliver Flash Lite pre-installed on more than 70 Nokia mobile handsets including all S60 devices, most Series 40 devices and their N800 and N810 internet tablet devices. These are devices today that have Flash Lite pre-installed and can accept developer content - today.
If you take a step back and look at what our partners (Nokia, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, others) have done with Flash Lite, over 450 million Flash enabled handsets and devices have shipped worldwide and we are on-track to see 1 billion devices with Flash by 2010. This is done by our partners pre-installing Flash Lite on the devices so when consumers get their handsets, our technology is already there.
So if you're a Flash Lite developer or considering Flash you may be asking yourself "what does this mean for Flash Lite?" Short answer - not much. Until Microsoft and Nokia can provide more details around Silverlight then your guess is as good as mine. What's important for Flash Lite developers to know is you can continue to create content for Nokia, Sony Ericsson and other devices and distribute it to consumers, whether it's just for awareness or to monetize. Regarding Flash Lite - the tools, content emulation, community support, devices and distribution options are all available - today.
If you're a mobile developer or business decision maker considering any technology for mobile development then there are questions that you should have:
- What's the addressable market supporting the technology
- What's the designer/developer workflow
- What tools do I need
- Can I leverage my skills or do I need to learn new ones
- How do I distribute my content
- Is the content inside/outside the mobile browser
- What's the developer community like
- Can I reuse assets from the web
- Can this technology allow me to have a multi-screen experience
Obviously this is a great topic for discussion so please leave comments.
Labels: microsoft, nokia, silverlight
14 comments
When will Flash developers be able to deploy the same Flash application on either web or a mobile device?
eg. when can my customer's make use of their Flex app on their mobile devices.
By
Anonymous
, at
Tue Mar 04, 07:43:00 PM PST
We are already seeing some very niche portable high-end devices with Flash 9 which can run Flex apps and AIR apps ... to what degree is something you have to evaluate for yourself, hands on with devices.
One case in point is the N810 ... http://www.nseries.com/products/n810/index.html#l=products,n810
The other is UMPC device. Search AIR and youtube for an example of a very early demo/prototype AIR mobile app.
However, the target audience for these devices is very specific and is a fraction of the addressable market Adobe wants to go after (IMHO).
Also, from what I have heard and seen, performance and memory are still things to manage on these devices, so they don't offer any kind of magic silver bullet to problems like fragmentation and/or device constraints.
Your question is about a roadmap ... I doubt that Adobe will comment publicly on any kind of timeline.
It is my recommendation, that your time is better spent building with the existing Flash Lite platform where there are hundreds of millions of low-mid range devices, growing world wide ecosystems, etc.
However, that being said ... extending your desktop service capabilities and offerings into the UMPC and high end mobile devices leveraging Flash 9 where it is present is not necessarily a bad thing; even if we are seeing very early stages of Flex and AIR apps on these specific types of devices.
By
Scott Janousek
, at
Tue Mar 04, 10:42:00 PM PST
"What's important for Flash Lite developers to know is..."
that rusted-on Microsoft development houses (eg: ad agencies, etc) won't be needing to learn FlashLite skills in the long run. If you're a Microsoftie, you can stay there and not be tempted over to the "Big A"
By
barry.b
, at
Wed Mar 05, 03:51:00 AM PST
This just goes to show that Adobe needs to quit screwing around and put FlashLite on every phone for every manufacturer; without licensing fees.
Flash became ubiquitous on the PC because everyone could get the player for free.
Load it on EVERY SINGLE device; no one will ever need Silverlight and Adobe will win.
By
Anonymous
, at
Wed Mar 05, 08:04:00 AM PST
I completely agree with barry.b. Penetration of FL is on the up and up, but free distribution would really expand its reach. I realise this may not be viable though, as FL codebase probably requires a lot of work for each handset family it is installed on.
The other big one, as always, is some sort of installer for FL content, such as a .jar wrapper, that will work on non-sis phones.
By
Peter Vullings
, at
Wed Mar 05, 01:06:00 PM PST
Sorry, I meant I agree with anonymous...
By
Peter Vullings
, at
Wed Mar 05, 01:07:00 PM PST
Hmmm ... is MSFT porting Silverlight to Symbian? If so, then that's a major threat to Flash Lite.
My assumption is that Silverlight depends on the .NET infrastructure in Windows Mobile. If my assumption is correct, then it can only run on WinMo (or MSFT is looking at one hell of a port to Symbian).
And if that's the case, then this is just MSFT confirming the rumor that Nokia will load WinMo on its devices. Nokia needs to dance with the devil to cover its bases, otherwise their market share will continue to erode.
By
Anonymous
, at
Wed Mar 05, 03:32:00 PM PST
If Flash Lite and Flash is so great, why isn't Steve Jobs putting Flash on the iPhone?
"[Flash Player] too slow to be useful" on the iPhone.
Flash Lite "not capable of being used with the Web."
By
Anonymous
, at
Wed Mar 05, 11:20:00 PM PST
@ Anonymous, Wed Mar 05, 08:04:00 AM
There is such a tool already as Open Source software. Check out
http://code.google.com/p/jarpa/
.Jack
By
Anonymous
, at
Thu Mar 06, 12:26:00 AM PST
Flash Lite seems to win in the long run too! It has the bigger market share, an evergrowing community and a very clear road map ahead -- so no doubt, business decisions will be driven by this.
Samir
By
Samir
, at
Thu Mar 06, 03:35:00 AM PST
My biggest frustration is that Flash Lite and Flash Player 9 are so much in different. Whatever I have written in Flex cannot be easily reused in FL 2 or 3. FL is based on FP 7, where everything is added to the stage using attachMovie/duplicateMovieClip, the object model are vastly different from those in FP9.
My other concern is that FL is running on top of SVG Mobile, which happens to run on top of Java ME. Correct me if I am wrong, doesn't this seem to imply a huge performance penalty? FP9 has been enjoying a great runtime performance unmatchable by Silverlight.
Furthermore, to get Flash Lite and test Flash Lite on mobile devices cannot be done without lots of cash and hoops to jump through. I am a Verizon Wireless user, and I cannot even figure out how to load Flash Lite player or test Flash Lite contents on my LG VX8550. If I cannot, how would a regular consumer can?
I hope Adobe would close this gap so it would enjoy the popularity as what Flash Player would enjoy on desktop. Seeing Flash Lite lagging behind its desktop counterpart is painful, seeing Flash ditched by iPhone is also painful.
By
Tangent
, at
Fri Mar 07, 08:12:00 AM PST
As I posted on my blog as well, Flash Lite needs some love from Adobe.
If you look at how many devices are out there with FL player, but do you see content for FL?
Very few mobile FL sites (Playoo?), and really low number of installable applications.
So where do we stand? Only NTT and Verizon have something FL for their users. Rest of the world?
The way MS is pushing Silverlight, it looks really big threat to Flash and FL. Adobe needs to take some positive steps.
// chall3ng3r //
By
chall3ng3r
, at
Mon Mar 10, 03:04:00 PM PDT
Here at Playyoo we've been looking at this, so from the Flash Lite games angle, obviously...
As far as I can see Silverlight seems to be targetted at Adobe's RIA tools. I would say it presents a stronger challenge to FlashCast rather than Flash Lite as such. I can't see much evidence of it being aimed at games developers, although I'm sure it could be used to make games.
The mobile deployment is quite a way off, as well. Microsoft are announcing support for WM6 by late 2008. No date has been announced for S60 as far as I can see. A strategy of aiming at smartphone platforms does seem to indicate that Silverlight is being positioned at the connnected mobile applications market.
Of course, this could all change, but from our point of view I do not at present see anything that weakens arguments Flash Lite as a fantastic platform for casual games developers.
As for "Flash Lite not capable of being used with the Web", that is total garbage. If Steve Jobs or anybody else cares to surf over to www.playyoo.com, they can see Flash Lite games playing on their desktop....
By
David Mantripp
, at
Tue Mar 11, 09:59:00 AM PDT
David,
Yes, I also didn't liked the way Jobs rejected FL for iPhone.
FL is quite capable of running web content. Even on very low-end devices.
The thing I'm asking Adobe again and again, is betterment of FL standalone part. Where most of the FL developers are trying to make installable applications.
If you guys have noticed that how AIR have found place on PC, why can't it on Mobile?
I think offline apps for mobile are not going anywhere, just like on PC.
// chall3ng3r //
By
chall3ng3r
, at
Wed Mar 12, 05:40:00 AM PDT
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