Excellent news for anyone who's been looking for a way to easily package your Flash Lite applications for Nokia Series 40 devices - Dale has released an AIR application that allows you to create .NFL files.  SWF2NFL allows a developer to not have to manually assemble assets and text files but instead use a more intuitive workflow.  You can download the AIR file here, install it and try it out.


Since it's an AIR app you can use it on both PC and mac systems and it's straightforward.  You basically just drag a folder containing your SWF file and any other files into the large area, drag an icon file to the correct location, provide additional information and select "Build".  Then your .NFL file can be made available to anyone to download and install.


There's also a cool feature of the AIR app that dynamically pulls in the latest supported Nokia Series 40 devices from their site and presents that info in an HTML window - simply by clicking a link at the bottom of the tool "25 devices supported".

Give it a shot and if you do create a .NFL file post a link to it in the comments here so the community can download them and test them out.  Also if you have any ideas of improving the tool let Dale know.

Today we announced the Adobe Open Screen Project which is dedicated to ensuring a consistent rich Internet experience across a broad range of digital screens and form factors including mobile phones, consumer electronics, televisions and personal computers. This experience will be driven by Adobe Flash Player and in the future Adobe AIR and is meant to ensure that designers and developers can focus on the consumer experience and know there efforts will scale across different platforms and screens. Simply put the mission of the Open Screen Project is meant to enable a consistent runtime environment for designers and developers across desktops and devices.

Ryan Stewart has some great thoughts about what this means for the desktop space and below are my impressions of what this means for the non-PC space and developers.

Who’s involved
In order for the Open Screen Project to be successful we need the support of companies that believe in this unified vision of the future. These companies include leading chipset vendors, device manufacturers, operators and media companies – all intent to help deliver consistent rich internet applications across a broad range of devices and desktops. These are the initial companies that are involved with the project and we expect other companies will want to join.

• Adobe
• ARM
• BBC
• Chungwha Telecom
• Cisco
• Intel
• LG Electronics
• Marvell
• Motorola
• MTV Networks
• NBC Universal
• Nokia
• NTT DoCoMo
• Qualcomm
• Samsung Electronics
• Sony Ericsson
• Toshiba
• Verizon Wireless

Flash and Adobe AIR to be Free
To support this project we will be opening access to more of our core technologies to help enable web innovation and include these initiatives:

• Removing restrictions on the use of the SWF and FLV/F4V specifications
• Publishing the device porting layer APIs for Adobe Flash Player
• Removing licensing fees – making next major releases of Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR for devices free
• Publishing the Adobe Flash Cast protocol and AMF protocol for robust data services

Converging PC and non-PC experiences
Over the past month I’ve traveled to Tokyo, Seoul and New York City and what I hear when talking to various groups of people including device manufacturers, operators, media companies, developers and consumers is how more an more the experience is becoming the key differentiator when consuming content. By us driving the Open Screen Project and working with some of the leading companies in their respected fields, we have a goal to make this happen. I’m really excited about this project and given the companies we have committed so far, our technology roadmap and leading tools for designing, developing and testing applications and content it’s a win-win situation for everyone.

What should mobile developers do
Keep on creating the types of experiences and content you already do for mobile phones using CS3, Device Central and other tools for development and testing. The key thing you should take away from the Open Screen Project is Adobe is committed to providing a consistent runtime across a wide range of devices including personal computers so continuing to build your skills now to develop Flash Lite applications will be part of the future growth opportunities for you and your clients as Flash and Adobe AIR are supported on non-PC devices.

It’s true that today desktop developers can use Flex and Flash to create web content and Adobe AIR applications and mobile developers can use Flash to create Flash Lite content for supported handsets. In the near future desktop developers will be able to use their skills for creating Flash and Adobe AIR applications for more than just desktop PCs. What will improve will be the workflow and output options for Flash and Adobe AIR applications and for us that’s important – to ensure that designers and developers have the best tools so they can focus on the experience.

Types of non-PC devices
One of the main benefits to OSP is the ability for us to provide to designers and developers a runtime environment that works across a wide range of non-PC devices, in addition to the PC space. I use the term “non-PC” often but to give you some context these are some of the types of devices we’re looking to support in the future:

• mobile phones
• mobile internet tablets (MIDs)
• set top boxes
• televisions

Over 1 billion devices by 2009
We’ve updated our device forecast and expect that by 2009 there will be over 1 billion devices that will have shipped that support Flash technologies. Previously we stated that we would reach this number by 2010 – so this is more good news for the Open Screen Project and shows the explosive growth of Flash technologies in mobile phones.

Next steps
If you’re a developer and have read this you’re probably starting to envision a very cool future where you’re able to extend your applications beyond just the desktop and for me that’s the future. I’ve only touched on some of the high-level points here and there certainly will be more news coverage about this initiative over the next few days and weeks. If you have any questions about this please leave a comment here and I’ll answer them.

You can read more about the Open Screen Project here as well as an FAQ.

My first speaking event this year will be at FITC Toronto and my session is titled "Flash Across Screens". In addition to showing how to create Flash Lite content I will be discussing distribution opportunities so developers can understand what options they have. For my session I'll also highlight an example of a developer using the Adobe Flash platform to create multi-screen experiences for the web (Flash), desktop (AIR) and mobile (Flash Lite).

They haven't posted the session schedule so I'm not sure what time I'll be presenting but keep checking their site for updates. As I'm still working on my presentation let me know any specific areas or topics you'd like me to cover so I can make it as interactive as possible.