Flash Lite Coming to Windows Mobile

Microsoft is licensing Adobe’s Flash Lite and Acrobat Reader LE for use in Windows Mobile-based phones. Flash Lite 3 is the latest release of the mobile version of Flash and allows mobile devices to play Flash animations on Web sites. Reader LE allows mobile devices to view documents in Portable Document Format (PDF). Adding the technologies could help Windows Mobile-based phones compete with Apple’s iPhone, which supports PDF and interactive Web applications based on AJAX technologies, but not Flash.

Both products differ from their desktop counterparts: Flash Lite 3, introduced in Oct. 2007, supports Flash video but is based on the older Flash 8 player instead of the current version, Flash 9. This means that not all Flash-enabled Web sites can be accessed using Flash Lite. Reader LE can display PDF files but can’t edit them or fill out electronic forms based on PDF.

The announcement comes at a time when Microsoft’s Developer Division is trying to establish Silverlight as an alternative to Flash, even announcing an agreement with Nokia to incorporate Silverlight into certain Nokia phones. It illustrates that the Windows Mobile division places a higher value on developing an alternative to the iPhone as a consumer smart phone than on supporting platform initiatives from other parts of the company.