Sony Ericsson Adds Flash Support to Mobile Java

Via Vivek, a very interesting development on the Flash Lite front from Sony Ericsson.

Sony Ericsson today announced at its Developer World conference plans for a new technology that bridges Adobe Flash Lite and Java ME development platforms.

The technology, called Project Capuchin, allows Java ME applications to use Flash Lite as the front-end interface for mobile phone applications.

More importantly, it builds a connection between the phone's applications and Flash, something that the few phones able to run Flash don't do. Flash is just a display layer, not actually interactive with the phone.

So there's light at the end of the tunnel for those of us waiting for a solution to make Flash Lite apps on Sony Ericsson handsets a reailty. What I founf most interesting though was this comment:

David said the technology could "very likely" grow into an open source project so it is not limited to just Sony Ericsson phones.

Could this also solve the problem we have with packaging for Series 40? Time will tell, but announcements like these help me to believe that Flash Lite is maturing as a platform and mobile technology, and that things are (slowly) improving in the market.

Talk to the Flash Lite Guru on Forum Nokia

I have officially been elevated to "guru" status by Forum Nokia for their upcoming "Talk to the Guru" online discussion on Flash Lite.

Following on from my involvement with the Flash Lite Code Camps this month, I'll be on the Forum Nokia Flash Lite discussion forum on April 22nd at 3pm (Brisbane/+10 GMT) to talk all things Flash Lite, and probably with a particular focus on Nokia devices.

No hecklers thanks - you know who you are!

Polar Cap Blues available now on Smashing Games

Moket's Polar Cap Blues is now available on Smashing Games (available in North America on Verizon Wireless) and is currently in the Spotlight section.

If you're on Verizon Wireless, follow these steps:

• Select "Get it Now" on your Verizon Wireless "Get it Now" enabled handset
• Select Get Fun and Games
• Select Get New
• Select Select Verizon Exclusives
• Select Smashing Games
• Polar Cap Blues can be found in Spotlight, New and Arcade.

While you're there, why not also download Cipher or Dizzy Zub Zub, and do your bit to keeping Moket game developers paying the rent :)

Moket featured on Forum Nokia and Games out on Nokia Download! Platform

All the attention that Nokia has been giving to Flash Lite lately has been great and has put the spotlight on many developers around the world. The plan was for WRT and Flash Lite to be a major focus for Nokia platforms in the first half of 2008, and they have certainly been following through those plans very well.

Ugur and the Kuneri guys have been written up already, and now it's Moket's turn in the Media and Games section with a great article on how our Flash Lite products have been supported by Nokia devices.

In the article, I mention an exciting new channel for Moket content that is launching in April - Moket games (and any that we can get through from the Moket Content Network) will be available through the "Try For Free" catalogue on the Nokia Download! client for S60 devices. We will be visible in APAC (including India) and Europe in the coming weeks, launching with 5 titles from our catalogue - Dizzy Zub Zub, Cipher, Polar Cap Blues, Jon Burgerman's Sausage Smackdown, and GRORBS.

Once they are live we'll make another announcement, but we're stoked that we have been able to secure this sales channel for Flash Lite games.

Adobe Mobile Gallery launches

Adobe launched their new Adobe Mobile Gallery today - a nice RIA for demonstrating the depth of Flash Lite products being produced around the world. We're pleased to have a number of Moket products in there, including our GoPets animations, the first Dojo Monkey game, and also our MoCarbon wallpapers. I'm also pleased to see many contributors to the Moket Content Network repesented in the gallery.

Free Nokia phone on cover of teen magazine

Via AllAboutSymbian: Fancy an old (pink) Nokia 6630 for free? Just buy a copy of GirlTalk magazine and you get one stuck to the front cover! You even get some stick-on jewels to give it some bling! Now when Flash Lite enabled handsets start making it to this kind of saturation I'll be happy :)

Flash Lite Developers Toolkit on Forum Nokia

Faisal, Forum Nokia Champion and Lead App Developer over at Orison Technologies (home of SWF2GO) has added a Flash Lite Developers Toolkit to the Forum Nokia FL Wiki.

In this initial release of the toolkit, the following components are available:

• FPS-Meter v3 - Displays FPS (Frames Per Second) of last 10 frames.

• Mem-Meter v1 - Displays available free memory to Flash Lite application.

• Battery Meter v1 - Shows current battery level of mobile device.

• Signal Meter v1 - Shows current signal stregnth of mobile network.

The installation package will install two separate libraries. One for Flash Lite 1.x and another for Flash Lite 2.x & 3.x.

If you're new to Flash Lite development then this is a great resources to get you started working with these aspects of the device in relation to your content/applcication.

MAX 2008/09 locations announced

Looks as though MAX 2008 will spill over into 2009 - must be big :)

• MAX US - San Francisco, California (Nov 16-19 2008)
• MAX Europe - Milan, Italy (Dec 1-4 2008)
• MAX Japan - Tokyo (2009)
  

Looking forward to it again this year!

Dojo Monkey and Flash Lite in the press

Well, you can never say that Moket doesn't do it's fair share of giving positive media coverage when it comes to Flash Lite and Adobe products :)

The Australian media section has today published a nice article on our Dojo Monkey product and the work we're doing cross-platform with it, including Flash Lite.

Hopefully with all the things we have in the pipleline with Dojo Monkey, there's going to be a lot more coverage like this in the near future.

Are we going to see iFlash in the AppStore?

UPDATE: Bill Perry's "iPhone and Flash - The Facts"

Now I have done my level best to stay out of the Flash on iPhone discussion because frankly, even though it's a great device and will do a lot from the point of view of pushing innovation (which is very important), I don't spend a lot of time at night thinking about how to address a device that only has 10 million units in the world - not when Nokia sell that many FL enabled devices a month (give or take - you know what I mean).

Anyway, news has hit the wires that Shantanu (Adobe CEO) has told investors an iPhone specific port of the Flash player is being developed using the iPhone SDK, and would be available as a standalone player on the device.

If it's a standalone player, doesn't this miss the point of a poor web-browsing experience through the browser? I'm sure I'm thinking of too many issues here before seeing the final implementation of this version of the player - and this is why I've resisted commenting on this whole area before, because details have been only rumours that have no real foundation in fact. So why comment now? I don't know, slow news day perhaps?

http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/03/18/adobe.iphone.flash.coming/

Upcoming Adobe Mobile eSeminars

There are a number of upcoming Adobe eSeminars related to mobile development which would be worthwhile checking out:

Getting Started with Flash Lite 3 and CS3
Presenter: Bill Perry
Monday, March 24, 2008
11:00 A.M. PDT

Flash Lite and Flex for Tourism
Presenters: Michael Epstein/Ira Hochman
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
11:00 A.M. PDT

Blood from a Stone: Flash Game Optimization on Low-end mobile devices
Presenter: Evan Kirchhoff
Thursday, March 27, 2008
1:00 P.M. PDT

Register for these sessions here

New Game on Chumby - GRORBS

We just released a new game for the Chumby called GRORBS. You'll also be seeing it soon in the Smashing Ideas catalogue in the US for Verizon customers. Check it out! Expect another announcement soon on where else you can buy GRORBS and other Moket games for your mobile ...

Flash Lite on 500m devices and on future Windows Mobile

Via Bill. Adobe has announced today that Flash Lite has now shipped on over half a billion devices, and with 150% growth over the past year they are on track to hit the 1 billion mark by 2010. This is an impressive number to trot out at your next business meeting when selling a Flash Lite option on your next mobile project. Backing it up with real numbers that the specific client can address can be a slightly different story, but overall it's another indicator that regardless of what the current climate is today, Flash Lite is only going to get bigger.

The other announcement is that Microsoft has licensed Flash Lite 3 and Reader LE for Internet Explorer Mobile on future versions of Windows Mobile, making the web experiences on these devices a hell of a lot more seamless than browsing the web on another popular device currently in the market!

Update on Nokia Code Camps - they're free!

The Forum Nokia Code Camps happening in April (Sydney and Bangalore) have just been made FREE to those attending. Nokia are really wanting to engage the developer communtiy on Flash Lite and Widgets and so have dropped the already nominal charge that was being considered.

ALSO, by attending the one-day sessions you go into the Code Camp Lucky Draw to win a spanky new N95 8GB device!

So register now and we'll see you there!

Moket and Forum Nokia Deliver Flash Lite Code Camp

I'm very happy to be involved in this upcoming Flash Lite Code Camp with Forum Nokia - April 3rd 2008, Sydney.

Moket will be part of the one-day session aimed at educating mobile developers on Flash Lite development and how it integrates with Nokia's own roadmap for the platform. This roadmap includes Flash Lite and Nokia's own Web Run Time (WRT) platform for wrapping and distributing Flash Lite content as "widgets" for Series 60 handsets.

Adobe will also be present, delivering important business information regarding their Mobile & Devices platform and future plans.

The current agenda for the day is as follows:

• 9:30am : Registration
• 10:00am-10:30am : Forum Nokia, Flash Lite opportunity - Gary Chan
• 10:30am - 11:00am : Adobe's Mobile & Device Platform - Mark Blair
• 11:00am - 11:20am : Coffee Break
  
• 12:00am -12:30pm: Flash Lite in the Market - Dale Rankine, Moket
• 12:30pm -1:30pm : Lunch
• 1:00pm -3:30pm : Hands-on session with Flash Lite 3 - Dale Rankine
• 3:30pm -4:00pm: Wrap up + networking

For the afternoon hands-on session, I'll be working through developing a Flash Lite 3 video application, and then wrapping it with WRT for distribution.

If you're in the Sydney area or can get there, this is a fantastic opportunity to come and hear and learn from the experts, and to get hands-on experience with Flash Lite.

Register for the event here.