3GSM World Congress is one event you better not miss if you want to be a player in the wireless industry. It brings together the global mobile community and provides an essential forum for the exchange of new ideas and a platform for generating new business.

Over the years, 3GSM World Congress has boasted an ever-growing audience that reached more than 29,000 visitors and 600 exhibitors from 140 countries in 2004, underpinning its reputation as the meeting and networking place for the global mobile industry. 2005 promises to be the biggest year yet in the event's 18-year history, not only in terms of the number of attendees (which is expected to surpass last year's record attendance), but also in terms of the quality of the conference program.

During the four-day event, the world's most influential mobile industry executives will take the podium to share their visions and ideas of the future of the industry that will define the direction that mobile operators, content developers, and technology suppliers take in the coming months. And for us at Macromedia there is no doubt that Macromedia Flash technology will be a key driver of future mobile developments.

Setting the Stage for Exceptional Mobile Experiences

During the past few months, Macromedia has been busy brokering deals with key players in the mobile industry to ensure Flash Lite becomes as ubiquitous on mobile devices as Flash Player is on desktops. Since it debuted on the NTT DoCoMo 505i handsets in May 2003, Flash Lite has been licensed by the world's leading handset manufacturers and operators, including Siemens, T-Mobile, Samsung Electronics, and Sony Ericsson, and if the number of OEMs who have announced plans to incorporate Flash Lite in their products is any indication, the momentum of Flash is building rapidly.

By the end of last summer, Flash Lite had been deployed on 17.2 million devices worldwide. By the end of 2004, this number had increased to 25 million. Based on the current rate of adoption, as many as 40 million Flash Lite–enabled devices will have shipped by the end of this year. And with more than 1.25 billion wireless users worldwide eager for new mobile experiences, we don't expect the fast-growing interest in Flash technology among handset manufacturers and mobile operators to subside any time soon.

This is good news not just for Macromedia, but also for the Flash developer community, which is a key part of our Flash value proposition and strategy—without you, our loyal developers and designers, and your expertise in creating rich, compelling user experiences, we wouldn't be able to convince mobile industry leaders worldwide that Flash is the way of the mobile future.

Promoting the Flash Ecosystem at 3GSM World Congress

As part of our continuing efforts to promote the proven strengths of Flash technology and the Flash developer community, Macromedia has organized a series of exclusive seminar sessions targeted at business and technical decision makers in the mobile industry. Over the course of two days, Macromedia executives and key personnel will be joined onstage by experts from Texas Instruments, Symbian, CNN, Turner Broadcasting System, Mobile Innovation, and the Yankee Group to inform seminar participants about ground-breaking developments on the Flash front and to share their valuable insights about the business opportunities Flash technology provides.

The highlights include an executive overview of how Flash technology can help the GSM community drive the next 1 billion GSM subscribers, delivered by by Dan Brongiel, Macromedia Director of Sales APAC. Akio Tanaka, Sr. Director of Macromedia, and Adam Zawel, Director of Wireless/Mobile Enterprise and Commerce at The Yankee Group, provide an analysis of how Flash has changed mobile user experiences in Japan, where all major operators ship Flash-enabled phones and key content providers deliver Flash-based services. Bryce Johnstone, WW OMAP Developer Network Manager of Texas Instruments, and Anup Murarka, Sr. Director of Product Marketing at Macromedia, discuss how Flash Lite and the Flash MMI features enable OEMs and operators to implement their brands rapidly during the handset manufacturing process as well as accelerate time to market of Flash-enabled devices.

On Monday February 14, Macromedia will announce the winners of the Flash Lite Content Contest, and we will be showing the winning applications at several events at 3GSM, including the Macromedia Flash Application Showcase and Networking Event on February 16 from 17:30 – 19:30 at the Hotel Martinez in Salon Matisse.

Talking Business at the Wireless Developer Forum

Macromedia is also sponsoring a one-day track at the 3GSM Wireless Developer Forum www.macromedia.com/mobile/news_reviews/events/3gsm/developer_forum.html, which is an official part of the 3GSM World Congress targeted at mobile designers, developers, and content providers. The track consists of eight sessions designed to help attendees gain practical and valuable knowledge about the latest Flash-based mobile applications and services.

The highlights in this forum include a presentation by Gina Centoni, VP of Product Management at Macromedia that outlines how Flash-based mobile content development will drive growth in the mobile industry through the delivery of compelling, rich, and dynamic data services. George Linardos, Director of Programming at Macromedia, and Mitch Lazar, VP of Wireless at CNN, discuss how Flash technology helps big media reach mobile consumers with dynamic content befitting their premium brands. Troy Evans, Sr. Product Manager at Macromedia, provides an overview of the types of Flash-based mobile applications being deployed around the world and a discussion of how mobile developers can generate revenue from their Flash content. Jerry Panagrossi, VP of U.S. Operations at Symbian, explores the market opportunities for Flash applications on Symbian OS mobile phones. Mike Sundermeyer, Senior VP of Product Design at Macromedia, and Matt Millar, CTO of Mobile Innovation, one of the leading experts in mobile interface design, discuss the power of intuitive mobile user interfaces and demonstrate the ease and speed with which mobile developers can build intuitive user interfaces using Flash MX Professional 2004 and Flash Lite MMI and then deliver them across multiple handsets. David Fleck, Director of Developer Programs at Macromedia, explains the benefits of the Macromedia Mobile Developer Program and how to get involved with the program.

The event will close with an informal Q&A session, which will give participants the opportunity to engage in a lively discussion with the representatives of the Macromedia Mobile and Devices team.

Check Out What You've Been Missing

If you're as excited as we are about the increasing attention Flash has gained in the global mobile industry, but are unable to attend this year's 3GSM forum, you don't have to feel left out. We will be releasing all Macromedia-sponsored presentations as Macromedia Breeze recordings at the end of 3GSM World Congress. Stay tuned for more information. For a detailed overview of our 3GSM events, go to the Macromedia at 3GSM World Congress page.

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