Professional Flash® Lite® Mobile Development

Chapter 1. Flash Is Mobile

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Developing for mobile devices and small screens

• Participants in the mobile ecosystem

• Evolution of the Flash Player optimized for mobile devices

• Core features and architecture of the Flash Lite Player

As a title for the first chapter in the book I thought I'd pay a little homage to one of the early encounters I had with Flash on mobile devices. The title is actually adopted from the Macromedia marketing header during the launch of Flash Lite 2.0 at Macromedia MAX 2005; there have been other noticeable catchy slogans for Adobe's mobile and device marketing since then, such as "Engage with Flash," but here we have a strap line that hits the nail on the head and sets us on our way... "Flash Is Mobile..."

Flash has actually been mobile for a number of years now. In order to understand in part how Flash can be utilized on mobile devices, how and where you, the developer, can leverage the technology, in this chapter you'll take a brief look at the short history and features of Flash Lite Player, the predominant Flash Player runtime used in mobile devices.

MOBILE DEVICES

Since the turn of the century, mobile phones have come a long way from functioning as simple communications devices and today these devices are providing us with everything we need for our daily functions.

Today, mobile devices allow us to listen to our favorite songs, watch recorded video clips and feature films, and record or watch the television shows we have missed. They come ...