Microsoft and Adobe Systems today signed an agreement to support Flash Lite and PDF content on the Windows Mobile mobile operating system, via the embedded Internet Explorer Mobile browser.
The agreement will allow Microsoft to offer its OEM customers and end users a mobile web experience closer to that of a desktop computer, with support, for example, for viewing videos on YouTube, directly on Internet Explorer Mobile.
The details of the agreement were not disclosed by either company, but according to Anup Murarka, from Adobe’s mobile marketing division, the integration of the Flash platform into Windows Mobile will not be instantaneous, and there must be a joint effort by the engineers from two companies, followed by the shipment of the software to the manufacturers and only then being available to the end users.
The adoption of Flash should not hinder the development of a mobile version of the competing technology developed by Microsoft, Silverlight Mobile, with availability scheduled for the end of the year.
The integration of the two technologies will allow Microsoft to offer the widest possible range of support for the web on devices running the Windows Mobile operating system, while laying the groundwork for migrating developers from Adobe Flash to Silverlight.
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