It's only February, and 2005 is already shaping up to become one of the most exciting years for Macromedia yet. Handset manufacturer giant Nokia has just signed a comprehensive license agreement with Macromedia to use our entire Flash mobile product portfolio across its platforms, including the Series 40 mass market phones, the Series 60 smartphones, and the Series 80 enterprise communicators. Together we are taking the opportunity to lead among mobile technology providers. Now that's great news—not just for us, but for the entire mobile community from developers to operators to users. It's also a reassuring sign that our ongoing efforts to promote Flash and the Flash developer community to the global mobile industry have not gone unnoticed.

Flash for Mobile is Gaining Momentum

Since its debut on the NTT DoCoMo 505i series handsets in May 2003, 108 companies have licensed our Flash product portfolio for use in mobile devices. Following NTT DoCoMo's lead, operators like KDDI, Vodafone K.K, and T-Mobile have differentiated themselves from their competitors by launching engaging Flash-based services. Macromedia Flash Lite, the trimmed-down version of Macromedia Flash Player that drives rich user experiences on devices with limited processing power, can be found in more than 50 mobile phone models worldwide, including handsets by Samsung Electronics, Sony Ericsson, Sharp, Motorola, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Kyocera, NEC, Panasonic, Fujistu, Sanyo, and Nokia. Today, more than 29 million Flash-enabled devices are in use worldwide, and, based on the number of OEMs and operators who have announced plans to incorporate Flash technologies in their products and services, the number of Flash-enabled devices is estimated to reach the 50 million mark before the end of the year. Not bad for a technology that debuted on some 140,000 devices less than two years ago

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Flash for Mobile Is Good for Business

Nokia knows that using Flash makes business sense. Flash delivers superior mobile experiences that can be easily branded and customized. By supporting rich and graphical-driven user interfaces, Flash Lite makes it easy for OEMs to implement dynamic menus, and for operators to differentiate their content and service offerings. Flash technologies also have been designed to speed up development time and keep development costs low. For example, Flash Lite supports features that enable developers to separate the user interface design from the hardware design and leverage the power and built-in hardware codecs of the Flash Lite rendering engine to ensure the rapid development and deployment of rich user interfaces and differentiated handset features right up to the last minute in the production process.

Nokia's decision to integrate Flash technologies in all of its platforms also translates into huge opportunities for mobile developers and operators. Given the size and reach of Nokia's distribution channels—Nokia has a 30% market share among the leading handset manufacturers—Flash developers will have access to new resources and support, as well as new regional and global markets. Operators will be able to increase their subscriber base and reduce churn by providing exceptional user experiences through rich and easy-to-navigate user interfaces and Flash-based content, games, and applications. They will be able to rapidly add content to their product and service offerings to adapt to the fast-growing demand for ever-new and engaging content, games, screensavers and so on. Operators will also be able to quickly add Macromedia FlashCast, which supports a new generation of push-based data services that combines interactive user interfaces, full-color images, catchy animations, and MIDI and MP3 sound into a new class of unrivalled user experiences.

Flash for Mobile Is Unique

Flash technologies also provide a comprehensive approach to the delivery of unrivalled mobile data services. No other company offers a portfolio of technologies, products, services, and tools that provides the power and feature set of our Flash mobile product portfolio.

All of our Flash for mobile products deliver compelling, interactive, and consistent user experiences across a variety of platforms. They all support rapid and customized development, which translates into cost savings and faster time-to-market. Last, but hardly least, Flash for mobile leverages the strengths of the Flash ecosystem and its more than 1 million Flash developers worldwide. You have the demonstrated expertise to produce rich user interfaces, games, animations, and applications of all types, and you have the tools and skills to bring rich and engaging media content to mobile devices. Without you, our loyal developers and designers, and your feedback, we would not have been able to build what you need to produce the type of work that demonstrates that Macromedia provides the tools and technologies to create the best digital experiences today.

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