Important, not to say vital, support for the development of the PC-like mobile phone quietly slipped into the handset market this week with Adobe saying it would make its Flash software freely available for mobile devices.
Companies endorsing the plan to make mobiles "just like a PC in your hand", through what Adobe calls its Open Screen Project, include ARM, Cisco, Intel, LG Electronics, Marvell, Motorola, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics and Sony Ericsson.
Also behind the move are content providers such as the BBC, MTV Networks and NBC Universal.
So what is being proposed?
Adobe said it will:
- Remove licensing fees for next major releases of Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR
- Remove restrictions on use of the SWF and FLV/F4V specifications
- Publish the device porting layer APIs for Adobe Flash Player
- Publish the Adobe Flash Cast protocol and the AMF protocol for robust data services
Why is this important?
Flash content is ubiguous in the PC world and with a bit of encouragement will inevitably become so in the mobile market. Adobe expects more than a billion handsets and mobile devices to ship with Flash technology by 2009.
However, the real reason is the recognition that the development of applications software and new content for mobile phones is moving towards the model which has served the PC industry so well over the last decade.
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