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Many 'old school' Flash Lite developers will smile reading the title. But few things may help out to look at it in a more positive way!
The number of Flash Lite enabled handsets is at 1 billion and by the end of 2009 Flash Lite will most likely be the number one mobile technology as install base. Currently J2ME holds this position.
The potential is huge and at the current moment there is not enough content to fill that number (1 billion). So my suggestion to developers is to work on their Flash Lite content portfolio and propose it to content distribution channels.
Things will change this year, since Adobe announced the OTA Distributable Player during the MAX developer conference last November. Basically a content publisher will be able to create content for the latest Flash Lite player (at this point Flash Lite 3.1) package it and distribute it. The latest Flash Lite player will be delivered over the air when needed.
We are still in Beta phase with support for several mobile phones (Windows Mobile and Nokia), 3 countries (USA, Spain and Italy) and 2 content aggregators (Thumbplay and Zed). A note here, the number of handsets and countries supported will increase in time. This is due to the fact that Adobe is certifying the Flash Lite runtime for each firmware and operators in those countries. A big deal in mobile which requires a lot of time.
About Flash Lite news, I have a post on my personal blog if anyone is interested.
Couple of other things that may help out is that both Nokia and Sony Ericsson are given access to services such as GPS, Sensors, Calendars, Phone Book, etc. directly from Flash Lite.
Also, Nokia which holds 40% of the global market and about 60% of global smartphones has every mobile phones Flash Lite enabled. (Only the one for the emerging market are not). Remember that Nokia ships about 1 Billion handset a year!
So why a company should look at Flash Lite technology for mobile development?
First: there are already 1 Billion Flash Lite enabled handset on the market.
Two, easy and fast development cycle.
Third, development cost. Porting from one platform to another is much less costly.
I look forward to this year and if you want to know more please join the Boston Adobe Mobile and Devices User Group, open to anyone from all around the world.
Alessandro
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- A summary for Flash 10.1, Flash Mobile, Flash on iPhone, Air Mobile
- What feature do you use most on your mobile phone?
- Has your strategy changed on mobile (now that Flash Player mobile has been announced)?
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This is the great news for 2009! but Flash lite still implemented by ActionScript 2, doesn't it? Does Adobe done something to 3rd-Age ActionScript developer?
Ciao,
yes, Flash Lite 3 run AS2 which is enough to do what you need in mobile development.
Adobe showcased Flash 10 playing into the browser of 3 different mobile platforms, which probably means AS3. But the concern is that only some high end devices will be able to run the latest Flash runtime. One important thing to consider (I mentioned in the post) is porting to other mobile phone models or platforms.
My suggestions to everyone that is looking to do some mobile development in Flash Lite is to start creating some content and learn what are the limitations of mobile development that you have to deal with.
Alessandro
I've never seen a hand set with Flash Lite on it yet. Can you give a few examples of which common handsets you mean, please?
Also, is it easy to get Flash Lite on to these devices? J2ME tends to come already on the device.
Finally, assuming that Adobe can't get Flash on to the iPhone, do you see iPhone impacting this market at all? That is, do you see a Flash Lite, J2ME, iPhone SDK three horse race?
Thanks in advance.
Ciao Chris,
all Nokia handsets are Flash Lite enabled, which means the Flash Lite player is already integrated into the OS.
I have a blog listing these devices and the specific Flash Lite implementation: http://www.flashlite4nokia.com
Like J2ME, Flash Lite is already on these devices.
About the iPhone, I can point you to Mark's blog from Adobe:
http://flashmobileblog.com/
My opinion, it's all up to Apple to allow other runtimes on their platform, not just Flash but also J2ME. Looks like that this is not their strategy at the moment.
Nokia for example allows you to develop using C++ (Symbian), J2ME, Flash Lite, Web RunTime (Html, JavaScript, Flash Lite), Python S60, .Net, Silverlight. Their strategy is to be an open development platform where the developers/companies can decide which technology to use.
Alessandro
@Chris
I believe all 1bil Flash Lite handsets are in Europe and Asia. There seems to be no market at all for Flash Lite in the states.
I have a Nokia N95 with Flash Lite, the experience as shown at MAX is crap sadly.
open Flash, browse file system, open flash content.
Flash Lite has a long way to go I think before it gets "Big" in the US. Ease of use being one, and AS3 being another. Why would an RIA of even a Flash developer, want to go back in time to write AS2? It's a total niche market, that's why there isn't enough content.
There's also not much VB6 and LISP content out there, or CF 4 for that matter. There's a reason for that. It applies to Flash Lite and it's AS2 as well, IMO at least.
Ciao John,
here a link so that you can check the FL handsets distribution:
http://flashmobileblog.com/2008/11/08/flash-lite-penetration-2008-2009/
Now, when you say "the experience as shown at MAX is crap sadly", could you tell me what experience you are referring to?
Also every Flash developer that asks for AS3 are coming from the web and most of them have no experience in mobile development. Could you please tell me a scenario/case where you need AS3?
My point is that it's not matter of AS3 vs. AS2, it's a matter of content, and mobile content that sells are games.
Alessandro
Thanks for the responses.
I think the thing about AS2 is that people can't be bothered to learn a new language. Perhaps there aren't that many differences between AS2 or AS3, but I don't have the time to find out and would probably only be motivated if I won some related work.
Interestingly, this 'learning a new language' was discussed in another recent InsideRIA post:
http://www.insideria.com/2008/12/phonegap-my-new-favorite-open-.html
Cheers,
Chris
Thank you very much, Alessandro!
You said Adobe showcased Flash player 10 based on 3 mobile platform. Aren't you telling me we can develop Flash content in AS3 and let the mobile browse it through its browser?
My idea is build AS3 content to the web and allow mobile browse them would be more easier to focus on deployed content.
Cheer,