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.

As of this evening, the Flash Lite 2.1 for Windows Mobile 5.0 devices is now available for free. This player will work on Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone and Pocket PC devices. The Flash Lite 2.1 player is based on the desktop Flash Player 7 and has a lot of features that mobile developers can take advantage of.

Flash Lite 2.1 Standalone Player for Windows Mobile 5.0 Devices
To install the player, download the .cab file from the Adobe site, copy it to your device and finish the installation on your device. Keep in mind that this is a standalone player and not an ActiveX control - meaning that you can view SWF files using the standalone player but not SWF files embedded in HTML pages via Pocket IE.

Flash Lite 2.1 CDK for Windows Mobile 5.0
Download the CDK to get started with developing Flash Lite applications and content specifically for Windows Mobile 5.0 devices. This CDK is an addendum to the existing Flash Lite 2.0 CDK so make sure you have that as well.

Support and questions
First make sure you take a look at the Adobe Flash Lite 2.1 Open OS FAQ for answers to any questions you may have. If you still have questions about the installer, player or CDK you can post them in the Adobe Flash Lite: Windows Mobile forums.

I'm very happy to announce that we now have a preview release of Flash Lite 2.1 for Windows Mobile 5.0 devices - including Smartphones and Pocket PCs. You can get all of the details on Adobe Labs including release and developer notes, documentation and installers.

We also have created a new discussion forum, Flash Lite: Windows Mobile where you can post your questions about developing Flash Lite content for these devices.

Some things you should know:
- This is a preview release of Flash Lite 2.1 for Windows Mobile 5.0. We're providing this to the broad developer community to allow you to test and provide feedback before it becomes final.
- We're working on some new device profiles for Flash Professional 8 to allow you to test your content. These should be available within the next few weeks.
- Both standalone and ActiveX plug-in are supported so you can view SWF content either way.
- We're working on some sample files for you to reference and will have those available soon.

The biggest questions will come from Flash developers who have used the Flash Player 7 or 6 for Pocket PC devices. Now there are 2 choices for developers - Flash Lite 2.1 or Flash Player 7. Each have their pros and cons and by next week we'll have a detailed comparison chart of the features of each so as a developer you can determine which version is the best choice for your application or development needs.

In a broader view what we've done is enabled Flash Lite developers to start targeting their application development for more than one platform using the same source files but changing things such as the stage size, video/audio formats and other related visual elements. Developers can reuse their ActionScript code with no or minimal changes. Now developers can create Flash Lite 2.1 content for BREW and Windows Mobile 5.0 devices. Within 2 weeks I will be posting some sample files that better demonstrate this process to help get the point across.

If you have any additional questions please post them in the discussion forum so everyone can benefit from the threads.

Several people have contacted me about having difficulties installing the Flash Player 7 for Pocket PC onto their devices. Unlike the FP6 for PPC which was a desktop .exe file, the FP7 for PPC is a CAB file that can be installed directly on your PPC.

Here's what you need to do:

1) Uninstall the FP6 from your PPC
2) Remove the FP6 for PPC installer from ActiveSync
3) Restart your PPC
4) Copy the FP7 for PPC CAB file to your PPC
5) Double click the CAB file to install directly onto your PPC
6) View SWF content ;o)

I'm pleased to announce that the new Flash Player 7 for Pocket PC ActiveX plug-in is now available for download!

Flash Player for Pocket PC enables developers and publishers to quickly and easily deploy Flash content and rich internet applications for Windows Mobile 5 and Pocket PC 2003 devices. Key features include:

• Web browsing compatibility
• Flash Player 7 support
• Action Script 2 support
• XML socket support
• Web services and SOAP API

You can also check out the following pages for more information:

• Flash Player 7 for Pocket PC Home Page
• Pocket PC Developer Page
• FAQ

The Flash Player 7 Pocket PC Distribution Kit (including the standalone player) and Content Development Kit are currently under development. We'll have more information available in the future about these items.

So what are you waiting for, go and download the player ;o) If you have any questions please post them here and I'll reply.

When I first started developing mobile Flash content it was with the developers release of Flash Player 4 for Pocket PC back in 2001. Since then Macromedia has released a version 5 and currently a version 6 of the Pocket PC Player and there has been an increase in the developer community for creating or porting Flash applications to the Pocket PC (Windows Mobile) platform.

So I have a question for those of you who currently are using version 6 of the Pocket PC Player, would you be interested in a version 7 of the Pocket PC Player? If so, leave a comment of how you would use the features of version 7 in your applications.

I want to clarify that a version 7 of the Pocket PC Player is not available today; we're trying to find more information from the developer community.

As of today we are making the free Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC download available for developers again.

Here's a summary of what's transpired over the past week...

On October 3 we decided to remove the free Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC from our site for various reasons. After doing so, however, you—our developer community—let us know that you were not happy with the decision. You gave us your feedback by contacting us directly, expressing your opinions in our forums and other Pocket PC developer forums. Some of you spoke with me directly about this topic. Thanks to everyone who voiced concerns and contacted us. We appreciate your feedback and perspective, and most importantly, we appreciate your taking the time to let us know.

The developer community as a whole is very important to us, and it's essential for us to listen to your requests and provide the best resources and support we can to help you focus on expressing your ideas using our technologies.

You can read more about it here.