Flash Lite

Flash from Adobe is a leading technology for delivering engaging media content on the web. Flash Lite from Adobe is the mobile-optimised version of that technology.

With Nokia, Flash technology becomes more broadly available, because it is supported across all Nokia platforms and is widely integrated with our mobile WebKit browser. Nokia makes publishing Flash content easy, too, via packaging solutions and tools for both the S60 platform and the Series 40 platform. Through S60 Platform Services, Nokia also enables Flash developers to use GPS-location and calendar functionality and much more.

If you are a web or media developer, Flash Lite could offer the quickest and most effective way of building on your existing skill set to create mobile content.

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Flash Lite — take your design skills from desktop to mobile

Adobe Flash Lite has been available on S60 and Series 40 for some time, and there are various versions of the player integrated with those platforms. In Maemo™ devices, the normal Desktop Flash player is included. Flash Lite content can be broken down into 4 different types - Screensaver, Wallpaper, Stand Alone, and browser embedded - each handled differently. Flash Lite dramatically accelerates the delivery of rich content and browsing as well as customized user interfaces. An estimated 500 million devices around the world are capable of playing Flash Lite content, with Nokia shipping around 150 million in 2008 alone.

Nokia was the first to deliver the complete web-video experience to people on the go, thanks to the integration of Flash video with the Web Browser for S60. Users of the browser can view Flash Web sites and Flash video content, such as YouTube videos, just as they would on their desktops. Flash Lite 3 enables simple desktop Flash 8 content to be viewed through the mobile browser.

Flash Lite has been widely adopted by OEMs, operators, and developers in Japan and elsewhere in Asia, and it's growing quickly around the world. This growth is driven by the mature Flash-authoring environment and by the rendering engine that delivers enhanced content and browsing, a customised UI, and a rich mobile experience across devices.

The core Flash technology helps creative professionals deliver interactive web sites, rich-media advertisements, instructional media, engaging presentations, games, and more. Designers and developers working across all platforms depend on Flash and the ubiquitous Adobe Flash Player software to ensure that their content reaches a wide audience.

Flash Lite expands that audience further by delivering the same richly graphical interactivity to a universe of mobile users. It also adds features that are uniquely mobile, including the ability to vibrate mobile devices and send text messages. For Flash developers, embracing Flash Lite involves an easy transition: They can use the same powerful Adobe tools to create Flash content for mobile devices as they do for desktop computers. Here's what Flash Lite delivers:

• A Nokia customised player integrated with our platforms.
• Implementation speed and flexibility.
• A large developer base and a mature toolset.
• Great connectivity options.
• Extensibility through S60 Platform Services.

For web and media designers, Flash Lite offers a great opportunity to tap huge new markets. For mobile developers, it offers a mature and popular authoring tool that can cut development time and deliver an engaging experience to mobile users.

Adobe’s Flash authoring tool offers great features to assist in mobile development, through the Device Central element. Device Central is a testing environment that enables a developer to select a target platform or device and test content on it. Nokia and Adobe work closely to deliver specifications and regular updates for this tool.

The process of packaging and distributing Flash Lite applications has become much easier with the introduction of the Nokia Flash Lite (.nfl) format for Series 40 devices. There is now a range of online and offline tools available to help developers package their products — and two solid formats that cover S60 (.sis) and Series 40 (.sis). Casual Flash content created for Desktop can be viewed using the WebKit browser, and Flash content can be embedded in Web Runtime (WRT) widgets. Nokia recommends that content embedded in web pages or widgets be simple, and that the browser engine not be used to deliver full applications.

Flash support in the S60 SDK is limited to S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 1. Nokia recommends that application testing be done through Adobe Device Central, Forum Nokia’s Remote Device Access service, or, best of all, on actual devices. Series 40 SDK Flash support can be downloaded from Forum Nokia’s Tools section.

Case Example: Pepsi’s "Kung Fu Fighting" Widget

Working with Pepsi Latin America, Forum Nokia helped to create the Pepsi "Kung Fu Fighting" widget, based on the eponymous 1974 song Kung Fu Fighting. Pepsi Latin America approached Nokia looking for ways to take their brand beyond the boundaries of conventional media and reach a broader audience by offering exclusive content through Nokia’s platforms. Combined with their "Kung Fu Fighting" TV commercials that will be shown in major Latin American markets, this Pepsi widget will make effective use of Nokia’s dominant market share throughout the region.

Forum Nokia understood what Pepsi wanted to accomplish with today’s sophisticated mobile consumers, and quickly identified developers who could deliver an application that aligns branding, messaging, and call-to-action results that use the full functionality and services of Nokia’s devices. AgencyNet developed the concept and solution which eventually became the Pepsi "Kung Fu Fighting" widget.

Download the Pepsi’s "Kung Fu Fighting" Widget »

Note: This widget will work on S60 and Series 40 devices that have Flash Lite version 2.1 or greater. Refer to this PDF for a list that shows all S60 and Series 40 devices with a Symbian platform, as well as which version of Flash Lite is installed on each device.

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