Macromedia Flash on Mobile Devices: A Fast-Growing Market for Developers
I have to admit it, I love gadgets.
Few things grab my attention in stores like a new consumer electronics product. The combination of industrial design, cool software, and useful functionality is a compelling Holy Grail. The reality is that most products don't achieve that perfect combination—but that doesn't make us give up the hunt.
I am not alone in professing this weakness. As a member of the Macromedia Mobile and Devices team, I am in good company. And the service providers, CE manufacturers, and developers we work with are also made up of like-minded individuals. What's the outcome when gadget freaks from Macromedia and these companies get together? Cool new products that use Macromedia Flash!
Devices and More Devices: The Growing Market for Developers
Since we formed the Mobile and Devices team in 2002, 45 of the world’s leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), service providers, and software platform companies have licensed the Macromedia Flash technology for use in their own products and services. The number of companies interested in incorporating Macromedia Flash into new consumer products continues to grow. With over 100 mobile products shipping with Macromedia Flash, there is an ever-growing catalog of platforms waiting for the Macromedia developer community.
These devices include a broad spectrum—from televisions and set-top boxes to PDAs and mobile phones. Throughout the past year, we have seen many new product announcements in which Macromedia Flash is a key component. The fastest growing categories are PDAs (Sony CLIÉ handhelds, Microsoft Pocket PC 2002 devices) and mobile phones. Over the next year, mobile phones and toys will likely be key categories, and, in two to three years, Macromedia Flash-enabled televisions and set-top boxes will begin to ship in large volumes.
Macromedia Flash Player: It's Standard; It's Everywhere
OEMs and service providers such as Japan's NTT DoCoMo have adopted Macromedia Flash for a number of reasons:
- Macromedia Flash is the standard for creating rich interactive content. Every major website uses it.
- Macromedia Flash is incredibly powerful, offering a set of features for creating rich graphics and complex interactions.
- Macromedia Flash is flexible enough to support all sorts of input devices such as touch screens, keyboards, remote controls, etc. Authoring to take advantage of this power and flexibility is easy with Macromedia Flash MX
- Macromedia Flash has a huge community of developers who can build new content. (And, if you are reading this article, there's a good chance you fit into this group.)
The ecosystem that has developed around Macromedia Flash is a powerful advantage for those companies that choose to use it. OEMs in particular are excited about working with the talented, experienced Macromedia Flash developers who can create new content and interfaces for their products. Service providers want to become a new outlet for the creative community to distribute engaging content that consumers around the world demand.
From Prototype to Mobile Application—Faster with Macromedia Flash Lite
Recently, Macromedia has tailored Macromedia Flash Player for different categories of devices. We've customized the way Macromedia Flash Player works to make it more efficient for specific devices. For example, certain ActionScript just doesn't need to run in a television or on a mobile phone.
The Mobile and Devices team has been creating "profiles" that let Macromedia Flash support only necessary features for a given category. You can find the first version of such a profile in the Interactive TV CDK. The team created a second, more extensive profile last year for mobile phones; we introduced it as Macromedia Flash Lite.
Macromedia Flash Lite, first adopted in Japan by NTT DoCoMo for all of their 505i series phones, balances Macromedia Flash features and capabilities with the power and configurations of today's mass market mobile phones. Eighty percent of mobile phones sold in 2003 don't have sufficient memory or processing power to support Macromedia Flash Player. Of those that can support Macromedia Flash, very few are capable of supporting the complete Macromedia Flash 5 or Flash 6 formats. The Mobile and Devices team purposely chose distribution over functionality to reach as many consumers as possible.
DevNet Mobile Developer Center: Your Central Source to Get Going on Devices
As I speak with developers, the most common question is "How do we get involved?"
I'm pleased to say that this article marks the relaunch of our Mobile and Devices section of the DevNet site, the central place to get information about creating content for the hundreds of products that millions of consumers will be buying in the coming months. Check it out:
DevNet Mobile and Devices Development Center
Here's what's new:
- Information by Device: The new design of the Mobile and Devices Development Center organizes all information based upon the type of the target device. This makes it easier for you to find all device-related resources.
- Players: If a binary player is available for a given device (Pocket PC, Nokia Communicator 9200, etc.), the device page will have links to the downloadable player.
- Content Development Kits (CDKs): Get Content Development Kits (CDKs) for specific
devices on each device page. CDKs are the most important instructional
document for device developers. They describe:
- The specific Macromedia Flash profile used for the device
- Features and capabilities that differ from the standard desktop Macromedia Flash Player
- Authoring guidelines and sample content
- Articles and Tutorials: Articles written by members of our developer community such as Nader Nejat's Creating a Macromedia Flash Portfolio for Mobile Devices and Phillip Torrone's Using Macromedia Flash with Sony CLIÉ communicate the latest techniques and provide code samples to developers targeting mobile devices.
The recent launch of i-mode handsets using Macromedia Flash Lite has excited developers in Japan and around the world. Check out the Macromedia Flash for i-mode developer page at http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/devices/i-mode.html. On this page you can download an update for Macromedia Flash MX (for both Mac OS and Windows) making it Macromedia Flash Lite-aware. Plus, the new Macromedia Flash Lite CDK is one of the most complete of any other supported platform. NTT also provides a link to a mobile phone emulator on the DoCoMo site.
Finally, we've provided a repository of sample files usable for a variety of devices. This page, located at http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/devices/sample_files.html, will help developers gain a better sense of what is possible for these exciting new devices. Check back periodically as we’ll continue to provide new content as we add devices and receive submissions from the community.
It's the Future
Macromedia Flash has led the way to rich, compelling interactive experiences on the web. With its ever-growing adoption by consumer electronics companies, Macromedia Flash promises to dramatically simplify delivering rich, compelling content in new platforms as well. Just as the web grew exponentially as sophisticated content became available, Macromedia Flash is helping drive development costs down and consumer adoption up for many, many new devices shipping this year and next.
We hope developers will find this newly designed section
of DevNet a useful resource. We also welcome the community's input
and submissions to make http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/devices the
best possible resource for designers and developers. The Macromedia
Mobile and Devices team looks forward to working with the Macromedia
Flash community!
About the author
Anup Murarka is part of the Macromedia Mobile and Devices team. He has spent more years than he cares to admit developing video games and marketing embedded software to consumer electronics manufacturers. His professed affinity for shiny new gadgets keeps him on the hunt for new toys during monthly trips to Tokyo's electronic district, Akihabara.
Submit feedback on our tutorials, articles, and sample applications.
