Adobe Improves Flash for Cell Phones

Adobe has introduced new software products for mobile phones based on its Flash multimedia technology.

The new products - Adobe Flash Home and Adobe Flash Cast 2 - made their introduction at the key Barcelona Mobile World Congress (MWC) show, which begins Monday.

The company also revealed that key content providers, including MTV, Nasdaw, eBay, Reuters and Dolce & Gabbana, are using its new mobile solutions to create content for mobile phones.

Adobe Flash Home is a new mobile version of Flash that's designed for mobile phones and customized for their screens. Adobe Flash Cast 2 is described as "the next generation offline portal solution".

Adobe Flash Home combines customizable data-enabled wallpapers and home screens with live data services, such as news, sports or entertainment channels. This technology has been licensed by operators including NTT DoCoMo, Verizon Wireless and Chunghwa Telecom.

"The time to radically improve the user experience on mobile handsets is now, with Adobe technology leading the transformation of how the world interacts with mobile devices, just as Flash revolutionized the web," said Gary Kovacs, vice president for product management and marketing, Mobile and Devices at Adobe.

"Content providers worldwide trust Adobe to deliver engaging experiences in print, on the web, in video and now mobile is the target for innovative applications that showcase their brands and unique content."

In excess of 450 million mobile devices powered by Flash have been shipped to date.

In addition to Flash Home and Flash Cast, Adobe also offers Adobe Flash Lite technology, the company's award-winning Adobe Flash Player runtime specifically designed for mobile and consumer electronics devices.

Flash Lite 3 with support for Flash Player compatible video is now available in a wide range of devices, including the Nokia N95 series, Sony Mylo 2 and NTT DoCoMo's 905i series. Mobile users can also experience full user interfaces in handsets created using Flash technology like the LG KE850 Prada, LG KG800 Chocolate, or the Samsung D900.