Great news, the waiting is over. Starting today developers can download the Flash Lite 3 Developer Edition for supported handsets via Adobe Labs. You can get all of the information on the site but here are a few key things to mention:

Developer Edition only
This Flash Lite 3 player is for developers only and is not for end-users (consumers) and can not be distributed with any Flash Lite content.

No IMEI required
The installer (SIS file) does not require a developer to provide their IMEI (also known as serial number) to Adobe in order to get the player. Any developer that has a supported device can install the player. There is a brief start-up splash screen that appears each time the player is launched - this is in place because it's the developer edition. Handsets that commercially ship with Flash Lite 3 pre-installed will not have this start-up splash screen.

Standalone Player only
The Flash Lite 3 Developer Edition is only the standalone player and will show up as an icon in the applications folder as "Flash". The pre-installed Flash Lite player that's already on a device will be in the same folder and called "Flash Player" - so there will be two similar icons. Testing of SWF files can only be done through the standalone player; web browser, screensaver and wallpaper content types are not supported.

Supported handsets
The Flash Lite 3 Developer Edition has only been certified by Adobe on the Nokia N95 (non-US 3G version). Technically it should work on any Nokia S60 3rd edition or later devices. Adobe has not certified Flash Lite 3 Developer Edition on any other Nokia S60 3rd edition devices and cannot guarantee that the player will work on them. Other Nokia S60 3rd edition or newer models include: 3250, 5500 Sport, 5700, 6110 Navigator, 6120 Classic, 6121 Classic, 6290, E50, E51, E60, E61, E61i, E62, E65, E70, E90, N71, N73, N73 Music Edition, N75, N76, N77, N80, N80 IE, N81, N81 8GB, N82, N91, N91 8GB, N92, N93, N93i, N95, N95 US 3G, N95 8GB.

Uninstalling a previous version of Flash Lite 3 Developer Edition
If you were a developer who submitted your IMEI number in October and received an early version of the Flash Lite 3 Developer Edition in October it's recommend you uninstall the current version and install this new version.

Developing Flash Lite 3 content
In order to create Flash Lite 3 content developers will need to update both Flash CS3 and Device Central CS3 - both are free updates.

So head on over to the site, download and install the player and share your thoughts with the community.

Thanks to everyone who has sent in their IMEI # requesting the Flash Lite 3 developer edition. Because there has been a huge demand for the Flash Lite 3 developer edition it is taking us longer than expected to get everyone’s IMEIs included and certified. This delay is unfortunate but because of this delay we have had time to add improvements to the Flash Lite 3 developer edition including faster FLV playback so you’ll notice an even better experience when playing back that type of content on supported devices.

Supported devices that developers can use for testing are any Nokia Symiban S60 3rd edition or newer based device. For example our reference device for testing and doing demos is the Nokia N95.

The Flash Lite 3 developer edition is only a standalone player and will allow developers to test and play back SWF files that are published as Flash Lite 3. Note, the Flash Lite 3 developer edition does not support the mobile phone web browser as a plug-in or other content types such as wallpapers and screensavers. It is meant only for developers, not for consumers to download. The first mobile phones that will start shipping with Flash Lite 3 pre-installed will be Nokia devices in Q1 2008.

Our new tentative date for having the player sent out to requesters is by the end of November if not sooner. Again we’re sorry for the delay and appreciate in your patience but believe the wait will be worth it.

Don't forget to sign-up for the Flash Lite online webinar "Symbian Signed - crash course for Flash developers". This live one-hour webinar will take place tomorrow (Wednesday 22 August) and start at 9am PST. Make sure you login at the correct time depending on your location/time zone.

If you're developing Flash Lite applications for Symbian OS devices (Nokia S60) this is a great session to get a better understanding of what the process is for getting your Flash Lite application "Symbian signed". For more developer information about Symbian you can go here.

One cool thing about Flash Lite is how many new handsets that are shipping with the 1.1 player pre-installed. Part of my responsibilities at Adobe is to test existing Flash Lite 1.1 content on new mobile phones, create new content and applications and to share that information with the mobile developer community.

These best practices will soon be provided via white papers, technical articles and sample files. Some of the things that we're documenting include:

• Various screen resolutions (176x208, 240x320, 352x416)
• Screen orientation (portrait vs landscape)
• Location of soft keys
• Consistent API support
• Flash content types supported
• Optimization techniques for various media (images, audio, video)
  

Currently I'm testing on the following Nokia S60 mobile phones: N90, N71, E61, N91, N80, E70, N72, and E60.

You might have heard about upcoming handsets from Nokia that will ship with Flash Lite 1.1 pre-installed on them. The first S60 3rd edition devices will be the following:

• 3250 (now shipping!)
  
• N71
• N80
• N91
• E60
• E61
• E70

As each of these handsets become available to market I'll be promoting them on my blog as well as offering some specific tips for creating Flash Lite 1.1 content because of the different screen sizes and orientations.