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Getting Started with Flash Lite

Adobe Flash Lite is the Flash profile specifically designed for mobile and consumer electronic devices. It enables mobile application developers and designers to create rich, engaging content and applications, and customized user interfaces across device platforms. Flash Lite has been licensed by the world’s leading operators and handset manufacturers to bring exceptional mobile experiences to subscribers worldwide.

• What is mobile?
• What is Flash Lite?
• The opportunity
• Workflow
• Next steps

What is mobile?

For a long time, mobile content and data services were the future. But today, the world is filled with mobile and consumer electronic devices. Phones, PDAs, MP3 players, portable gaming consoles—they all make life more convenient for consumers, and that's why the mobile market is skyrocketing. By the end of 2007, there will be 2,713 million mobile devices in use worldwide compared to 755 million PCs.

Unlike the open environment of the web—where anyone can create and upload content—the mobile world is still, in many ways, a closed world with a very specific content ecosystem:

• Content providers, designers, and developers create original mobile content that they can distribute through OEMs, operators, and aggregators
• OEMs manufacture mobile devices and network equipment. Devices can be open or closed; open devices allow users to download third-party software and content.
• Operators manage the network, service provisioning, billing, and customer service. Operators also can control what content end users can view on their mobile portals or "decks" or push content to users via text messages
• Aggregators collect and distribute mobile content directly to consumers or through their relationships with operators
• Brands and companies pay for advertising inventory

The world of mobile devices is also different from the web world in other respects. In the mobile world, device diversity and frequent releases are the norm, network speeds can fluctuate from spot to spot, screen sizes and form factors vary greatly from device to device, device firmware can't always be updated, and each geographical region has unique characteristics.

To enter the mobile ecosystem, designers and developers need the right tools and resources. Adobe Flash Lite paves the way for mobile content development and distribution.

Additional resources:

• Getting Started with Flash Lite white paper (PDF, 1.5 MB)

What is Flash Lite?

Based on the Adobe Flash Platform, Flash Lite is the runtime specifically optimized for mobile phones and consumer electronic devices. "Lite" means that it has a light footprint in all ways: file size, memory usage and CPU requirements. Using the same Flash skills and tools you already have, you can take mobile design to new levels of creativity and interactivity.

Flash Lite supports many different content types—including wallpapers, screensavers, games and applications—so there's no limit to the kinds of applications you can create (see above for more examples):

• Real-time, interactive traffic maps
• Games
• Animated screensavers
• Advertising and mobile marketing applications

There are a lot of factors to take into account when developing mobile content, including the device and operating system you're developing for, as well as which content types and versions of Flash Lite they support. In the Adobe Mobile & Devices Developer Center, you'll find detailed information about Flash Lite-supported handsets. In Adobe Device Central CS3—a new component in all Adobe Creative Suite 3 editions and several point products such as Flash CS3 Professional—you can view device profiles to access detailed information on capabilities and Flash Lite functionality per device.

Additional resources:

• Getting started with Adobe Flash Lite Guide (PDF, 1.5 MB)
• Flash-enabled devices (PDF, 308k)
• Adobe Device Central online help
• Flash Lite Exchange (examples of third-party Flash Lite content)
• Adobe Developer Center for Flash Lite
• Adobe Flash Lite
• Adobe Device Central CS3

The opportunity

Today, 300 different models of Flash Lite-enabled devices are available, and you can create content directly for more than 100 models. Nearly 250 million Flash Lite-enabled devices have shipped around the world. According to Strategy Analytics, the number of shipped devices will reach more than 1 billion by the end of 2010. That means there's a significant opportunity to make waves in the world of mobile content as an early innovator and put your work in the hands of millions of users around the world—and generate incremental revenue by selling that content through Adobe's global partner network or through client-contracted work.

Today, many of these devices are pre-installed with Flash Lite 1.1, while some support Flash Lite 2.0. With the release of the Flash Lite 3.0 player in Q4 2007—including Flash Video support—you will have more opportunities to create and distribute content. The penetration of Flash Lite 3.0 devices will grow over time as more device OEMs and operators adopt this new technology.

If you already develop using Flash, there's little learning curve for Flash Lite. That means lower development costs and a faster time to market to create richer interactive mobile content with engaging interfaces.

Sell your content

After you develop, you can sell your apps to Adobe's network of aggregators or directly to partner operators like Verizon Wireless. You can also develop Flash Lite content for contracted client work.

Additional resources:

• Flash Lite /Mobile Customer Showcase
• Getting Started with Flash Lite Guide (PDF, 1 MB)
• Adobe Flash Lite
  

Workflow

With the Adobe software you already use, together with the new Adobe Device Central CS3, you can quickly design, develop, preview, test and distribute mobile content.

Create and prepare

• Brainstorm and sketch out your ideas
• Identify your target devices, Flash Lite versions and content types

Design and prototype

• Consider important design elements such as branding, fonts, UI, and navigational flow
• Create the look of your application and mockups using Photoshop CS3, Illustrator CS3 or Fireworks CS3

Develop or repurpose

• Build your application and add interactivity using Flash CS3, together with Photoshop CS3, Adobe Premier Pro CS3 or After Effects CS3
• Repurpose existing web or print assets for mobile devices as appropriate

Test and publish

• Publish your work as a Flash Lite application from Flash CS3 or Flash Professional 8
• Use Device Central to preview your designs and test your content on the desktop
• Test your application on a Flash Lite-supported device by transferring the .swf file from the desktop to the device
• Conduct quality assurance to ensure an optimal user experience and identify bugs
• Make any changes or optimize the content in the Flash authoring environment (the "Test and publish" part of the workflow is an iterative process)

Distribute

• Package your content to .SIS (for Nokia Series 60 and Symbian), .MOD/.MIF (for BREW devices) for the appropriate platform

Generate revenue

• Sell your content to a content aggregator or operator
• Receive a check each month as consumers download your content or get paid through client-contracted work

The Getting Started with Flash Lite Guide provides more detail on each of the steps in the workflow.

Additional resources:

• Getting Started with Flash Lite Guide (PDF, 1 MB)
• Packing Lite: A Mobile media interface design primer
• Adobe Device Central CS3
• Adobe Device Central CS3 tutorials and articles
• Article: Creating SIS files for distribution
  

Next steps

Make sure you have the tools you need

• Determine which CS3 products you want to use to design and develop
• Check for Flash Lite player updates to your Adobe tools – especially for Flash CS3 and Device Central CS3, as well as Flash Pro 8
• Check for the latest device profile updates on Adobe Device Central Online

Sign up for the Mobile Developer Program

• The Adobe Mobile Developer Program gives you free access to the services, information and technical support you might need as you design and develop mobile content.

Visit the Mobile and Devices Developer Center

• Check out the latest articles, tutorials, product updates, and archived newsletters, as well as find out about Flash Lite training opportunities.

Get a supported device

• You will need to test your application on the Flash Lite supported device or devices that your application targets

Learn about mobile and Flash Lite best practices

• Getting Started with Flash Lite white paper (PDF, 1.5 MB)
• Content Development Kits (CDKs)

Get involved

• Participate in mobile user groups, Adobe Mobile & Devices discussion groups, monthly webinars, and the Flash Lite Exchange.