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You know those towns along the state highways that have a Welcome and You Are Now Leaving... message on the same sign? Well that might be the case for Flash Lite. In my last post, I mentioned that decision makers in commercial online concerns had better get hip to Flash Lite. Hopefully, a few readers brushed up on Flash Lite and how it is making it possible to display their sites on mobile devices like cellphones. However, I have bad news (and good news).
The bad news is that if you're just learning about Flash Lite, you're behind the curve. It is currently making it possible for content developers to bridge the gap between desktop computers and mobile devices so that, despite cpu and software differences, the two display content fairly consistently.
The good news is that the hardware and software required to run web sites on desktops or laptops is now increasingly being found in mobile devices too. This means that the need for Flash Lite may not be there is the months or years to come.
Essentially, Flash Lite is a second (pared down) language of Flash 8 that can be processed using less memory by smaller devices. Since these devices soon will possess the same computing and storage capabilities of basic desktop computers, the need to have a pared down language just for them will be gone. Already, Nokia has introduced a line of phones for 2008 that run Flash 9 itself without code modifications. Pretty cool.
In the words of Richard Leggett, roving British Flash Lite evangelist, "My feeling is that the manufacturers and operators have received a lot of love (after all, the operators pay the manufacturers and the manufacturers pay the licenses), but the Flash Lite developers are largely forgotten. They can get all the attention they want if they jump on the Flex and AIR train however. I was speaking to someone the other day who threw a lot into Flash Lite, fully intent on it forming the basis of a business, only to have to change those plans a year or so later. A real shame."
So for those online businesses in a hurry to display sophisticated Flash functionality on their audiences' handsets, Flash Lite for now. Next year, Flash X(?) for all devices may be the reality. Stay tuned.