Today we’re announcing that Microsoft has licensed Flash Lite 3 and Reader LE for future Windows Mobile based devices and adds another supported platform for Flash developers to reach consumers. Flash Lite 3 will be pre-installed in the Internet Explorer Mobile browser on future Windows Mobile devices and will allow consumers with these devices to enjoy the same web experiences anywhere they are. In addition to Flash Lite, Reader LE will be pre-installed to allow consumers to open and view PDF documents while they’re away from their computer, increasing productivity and enhancing the enterprise workflow. Adding the Windows Mobile platform is important for our developers to expand the reach of their applications to more consumers.

Over the past few weeks there have been several announcements by other companies regarding their mobile solutions or initiatives and I’m glad I can now finally talk about this deal with Microsoft. Well I thought I’d take the time to provide more details around some of the commonly asked questions you may have to help put some context to things within the public domain.

Why did it take so long
Ever since we announced Flash Lite 3 back in October, there have been a lot (and I mean a lot) of requests from consumers and developers about not being able to view their favorite sites using the Internet Explorer Mobile browser on their Windows Mobile devices. Like any licensing deal they take time and we’ve been working with Microsoft for several months on this deal and we’re very excited about Windows Mobile consumers being able to experience the full web in the future.

How many Windows Mobile devices
If you take a look at recent information for Windows Mobile devices (11 million shipped in 2007 and 20 million expected in 2008) you can see a trend here. Also according to Strategy Analytics, in 2007 1/3 of Windows Mobile devices shipped in North America (33%) with other regions representing other values: Western Europe (29%), APAC (20%) and the rest of the world (18%). You’ll have to look to Microsoft to provide guidance on future handset shipments but you can visit their site to get a sense of the range of devices they have in market today. One thing to note is this deal is different than other licensing agreements we have with our OEMs. Because the license agreement is with Microsoft, it will be part of their Windows Mobile OS in the future meaning any OEM that will ship a Windows Mobile device will have Flash Lite 3 pre-installed. Today these OEMs include HTC, iMate, Samsung and others.

Will my current Windows Mobile device support Flash Lite
The signed agreement with Microsoft is for future Windows Mobile devices and you will have to ask them if they plan on providing any updates to existing Windows Mobile device owners to add Flash Lite support to their Internet Explorer browser. Or you can contact the device manufacturer to see if they have any information to share.

Browser support only for Windows Mobile
This licensing agreement is only for a browser plug-in which means Flash Lite content will only be supported inside the Internet Explorer Mobile browser. This means no standalone content like games or applications or personalization content like animated wallpapers and screensavers that other platforms support today. This means that consumers will discover your Flash Lite content by going to a URL using their Internet Explorer Mobile browser – not by downloading an application or a CAB file (which is a native packaging extension for Windows Mobile devices). From a content creation standpoint there are 3 main screen sizes for Windows Mobile devices: 240x240, 240x320 and 320x240 – but there are other screen sizes as well. Some of these devices are touch screen based and it’s good to know that Flash Lite 3 does support touch screen events. We’ll be publishing a technical article in the future that describes how to embed your Flash Lite content inside an HTML page so it renders correctly and provides a great experience.

Windows Mobile makes 9 mobile platforms
Supporting as many non-PC devices and mobile platforms with our Flash technology is important and with today’s announcement the number of mobile platforms increases to 9. Today there are over half a billion devices that have shipped with our Flash technology pre-installed, and we fully expect to be on over 1 billion devices by 2010 – not bad considering the first non-PC device with Flash technology (Flash Lite 1.0) shipped in Japan in February 2003.

Here’s a breakdown of what you can do on these platforms:

Flash Lite and Silverlight on Windows Mobile
Yep you bet. If you take a look at the PC space, Flash is a key part of the rich web experience and Microsoft is competing in the same space with their Silverlight browser plug-in. It’s only natural that they would look to port their Silverlight plug-in for mobile devices and Windows Mobile is an obvious first platform for them to support. If you take a look at our strategy it’s to provide a consistent platform for media brands, companies and developers to extend their PC-based web experiences to mobile devices. Obviously Flash Lite is not the same as the desktop Flash player but we’re moving towards a future where our Flash client will allow developers to focus on creating the applications and not worrying about the platform or device.

Today there are several mobile devices that support our Flash/Flash Lite technology in the browser and we expect the number of these devices to continue to increase. Two weeks ago Microsoft announced Silverlight would be coming to Windows Mobile and Nokia devices in the future and I think it’s a good thing for developers – competition drives innovation. I had some good conversations with some of the Microsoft Mobile team members and will be posting my thoughts in another post, mainly about the differences between Silverlight 1.0 and Flash Lite 3 for mobile devices.


So if you’re reading this part now you probably have a few questions, so go ahead and leave them here and I’ll provide answers as best as I can. If you want to get started with learning more about developing Flash Lite content for devices you can visit our getting started section of our mobile and devices developer center.

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:

• 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
  

On a side note I'm here in Las Vegas and will be attending the Microsoft MIX08 conference over the next three days. A few months ago I registered for the conference assuming Microsoft would have some announcements and it looks like I guessed right. Silverlight on Nokia is one of them and starting tomorrow I'm sure there will be other announcements.

Obviously this is a great topic for discussion so please leave comments.