Sep

24

Macromedia unveiled a new technology/service at DemoMobile late last week. From what I can gather from this video, it’s name is FlashCast and it is a new framework for distributing Flash content to next generation phones. The idea is fairly similiar to BREW developed by Qualcomm. BREW utilizes Java as it’s underlying technology.

The idea is pretty simple and also fairly similiar to Macromedia Central for desktops. First, Flash Lite is used as the rich client environment for phones. Flash Lite is built on the Flash player just like Central – only is tailored for a device environment. Flash Lite is NOT the Flash plug-in for a browser flavor installed on a phone. Instead Flash Lite is a standalone application.

Second, Carriers will provide phones on their network with a shell application that is played in the Flash Lite player. This shell application acts as a portal to rich content (authored in SWF format). The application uses a channel paradigm just like a television. The user chooses a channel and is presented with what content is available for that channel. With FlashCast all of the content will be stored as SWF files on the carriers network. Once a SWF is choosen and comes down over the air to a phone it is stored in cache for offline viewing if needed.

Simiiliar content frameworks already exist for phones/carriers. As I mentioned above BREW provides a framework for viewing and downloading J2ME applications. Vodafone in Europe has Vodafone Live! which is more a portal for WAP content but is still similiar. DoCoMo has its own portal framework for content as well. I believe FlashCast has an advantage over WAP. I don’t completely dismiss WAP, it makes a lot of sense in some situations (i.e. blog reading), but Flash can just be so much more rich. WAP can be used on far more phones than Flash Lite, and this is the reason I am still developing a WAP portal system. Flash Lite requires the power of the newer smartphones hitting the market in the last year or so. So WAP and Flash Lite can’t be an apples to apples comparison.

J2ME makes sense for applications written for smaller, less powerful machines as well. But I see Flash Lite gaining some ground over J2ME. The engineers at Macromedia have made some great strides in porting Flash to the device environment. The biggest factor between BREW and FlashCast, I think, will be the number of developers – granted most Flash developers only develop desktop content. Still, desktop developers using Flash for devices should have a much more mild learning curve than that of Java developers developing for J2ME. More developers should mean more apps and content being developed and deployed in a shorter amount of time.

I think Macromedia has a great thing with FlashCast and I’ll be waiting anxiously to see who the first carrier will be to offer FlashCast to their network subscribers.

Sep

16

Macromedia has announced an agreement with Espial to extend support for Flash into their browser for devices. Espial’s reach into devices range from PDAs made by Kyocera to PVRs made be NEC. This is great news for Flash developers. More opportunities always means good news. I think this is probably just a stepping stone though. I am assuming the version of player does not have extra FSCommands or other support built in to extend interaction with the hardware APIs. However maybe this will lead to a special build of the player that communicates with Espial Escape a little more so Flash can talk to APIs that communicate with the hardware. This opens up opportunities to building PVR interfaces, also building dashboard displays for cars with the Espial browser embedded. Looks like the Macromedia Mobile Business Unit is discovering some really cool opportunities for us.

Sep

9

According to a new Devnet article over at Macromedia.com, a new Motorola phone will support Flash content. The Motorola A920 is a tri-band device which runs on the Symbian OS UIQ platform. The version of Flash Player is 5. I don’t know if this is considered ‘Flash Lite’ for this phone or not. It runs the new Symbian OS and has some pretty strong hardware behind it. Currently it will be available via the 3 network over in the UK. Unlocked version are available for pre-order through the normal outlets, although prices have not been set. I believe this will be one of the first phones released running Symbian OS 7.0 other than the Sony P800. Hopefully this means that all of the new Symbian phones will have the ability to run this Flash Player.

Sep

9

This might be the most interesting device news that I have heard in a while. Danger, the makers of the T-Mobile hiptop, which recently got upgraded to version 2 including a nice color screen has inked a deal with Sun to support Java on the device. Keep in mind this device is like a PocketPC and that it is data first phone second. The Hiptop has received good feedback from a number of users, and now with Java support, I imagine the number of users could really grow. Nokia is winning the race to device unit majority with their Series 60 phones which run Symbian’s OS and has wonderful support for J2ME (Java Mobile Edition). Apparently Danger is following Nokia’s lead and supporting mobile Java. I’m on the fence regarding Microsoft’s technologies and the rest of the world’s (Nokia/Symbian/Java). The mobile platform wars are completely underway. Next will be the mobile software wars, which Macromedia is aligning Flash for already. Wouldn’t it be nice to see Flash on the Hiptop as well?

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