Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced that Microsoft has licensed Adobe Flash Lite software, Adobe's award-winning Flash Player runtime specifically designed for mobile devices, to enable web browsing of Flash Player compatible content within the Internet Explorer Mobile browser in future versions of Microsoft Windows Mobile phones. Microsoft has also licensed Adobe Reader LE software for viewing Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) documents including E-Mail attachments and web content. Both Adobe products will be made available to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) worldwide, who license Windows Mobile software.

So far ODMs had to license Flash Lite and and Reader LE on their own and only a few did it. With a centralized license agreement. Now there are real chances that most upcoming Windows Mobile PDAs and smartphones will be able to handle PDFs and Flash-enabled websites out of the box; especially because Flash Lite 3.x is a browser plug-in for Internet Explorer Mobile on Windows Mobile which will provide users with access to rich and interactive web content created using Adobe Flash technology. As the most popular and ubiquitous format on the Internet today, Adobe Flash powers many rich and engaging web sites, applications and animations. Adobe Reader LE will allow Windows Mobile users to easily and reliably view and navigate rich PDF content using innovative features developed to improve document readability on smaller screens.

"People want vibrant web experiences and access to entertainment and information anywhere, anytime," said John O'Rourke, general manager, Mobile Communications Business at Microsoft Corp. "Bringing Flash Lite and Reader LE to the Windows Mobile experience will give consumers more of their favorite websites on the go."

With more than 150 percent year-over-year growth and half a billion mobile devices shipped with Flash Lite to date, Flash Lite is delivered on mobile phones and devices of all major handset manufacturers worldwide. Flash Lite runs on multiple platforms, including Windows Mobile, Symbian S60, and Qualcomm BREW, in addition to embedded operating systems on a variety of OEM platforms.

"We are thrilled to work with Microsoft to add playback of rich, web-based Flash Player compatible content and PDF document viewing to Windows Mobile," said Al Ramadan, senior vice president, Mobile and Devices at Adobe. "Flash has revolutionized the way we experience content on the web and we are excited that Microsoft has decided to extend the experience of Flash technology to Windows Mobile users."

In fiscal year 2007, Microsoft sold 11 million Windows Mobile licenses and expects to sell more than 20 million licenses in fiscal year 2008, making Windows Mobile a leading smartphone platform globally.

Adobe Flash Lite and Reader LE availability for Windows Mobile phones will be confirmed later.

Cheers ~ Arne