New version of player guns for the iPhone crowd

Adobe is hoping that its latest mobile offering can pick up where Apple's iPhone left off.

Version 3.0 of Flash Lite will be released on 30 September at the company's Max 2007 conference. Based on Flash 8, Flash Lite will support Adobe's Flash video format.

The new software will allow for Flash-based video services, such as YouTube, to be used with a mobile phone.

Gary Kovacs, vice president of marketing at Adobe's mobile and devices branch, told reporters that the aim of Flash Lite is to go beyond just video.

The company hopes to tap into a newfound passion for premium services among mobile developers in the aftermath of Apple's super-hyped mobile device.

The iPhone has "changed the landscape" with its sleek graphics and tight integration of services, turning the phone from a simple commodity into a fashion statement, according to Anup Murarka, Adobe's director of technical marketing.

"Since the iPhone, the energy in the industry to create something compelling has been off the charts," said Kovacs. "The iPhone has convinced customers that data on a mobile phone is possible."

Kovacs added that the first order of business is to create a base. Many developers are already familiar with Flash as a web service, but Adobe will need to pitch it as a viable tool for mobile devices.

"The franchise we hold most dearly is the developer community," he said. "If we have to create a whole new developer community, we lose."

Flash is among the most popular multimedia plug-ins on the web, and is installed on roughly 98 per cent of all desktop computers. Adobe hopes to capitalise on this formidable position to create a dominant mobile presence as well.

Avi Greengart, principal mobile device analyst at Current Analysis, said that much of Adobe's strategy will depend on convincing mobile device makers to pre-install Flash Lite on their devices.

"Adobe has a lot going for it in terms of an established infrastructure for web developers," he said. "It does not have to convince people that they should learn to do this."

Translating Flash from mobile to desktop will not be so simple, however. The code for Flash Lite 3.0 is based on the older version 8.0 of the desktop Flash player, which is currently at version 9.0.

Kovacs likened development on mobile devices to developing for PCs that are four to five years old. Slower processor speeds, and a premium on battery life, mean that development on mobile phones is more limited.

Greengart explained that network infrastructure will present an additional challenge, particularly in the "holy grail" areas of video sharing and social networking.

"Upload speeds, even on some of the 3G networks, are barely acceptable," he said, adding that uptake of the devices will be slowed if carriers cannot provide adequate speeds to serve video and other data services.

There is also the problem of user adoption. The desktop Flash player can be updated automatically to nearly all internet-enabled PCs in a matter of days, but most mobile devices have no such system in place.

Instead, mobile developers are forced to rely on a "natural upgrade cycle" where users receive updates by purchasing new phones every one to two years.

Adobe warned that the rollout of Flash Lite services will take time, even for the earliest of adopters.

"People who use mobile phones will not know [the advantages] right now. They will know in six months," admitted Murkaka.