Fancy YouTube on your WM device?

John Chan | Mar 17, 2008

Support for Flash videos has been pretty disappointing on mobile devices. This is because Adobe's support is not at the same level as on the desktop, so Flash sites on your PC browser don't look exactly the same as on your mobile phone. Flash Lite for mobile devices has been around for a while, but only the latest version 3 supports FLV, the most popular format for video streaming on the Internet, including everyone's favorite video site, YouTube. Though this version was announced more than a year back, it hasn't found its way into any device that's commercially available now.

Today, Adobe announced that Microsoft has licensed the Flash Lite 3.x plug-in for Internet Explorer Mobile. According to its press release, this will be available to manufacturers that license the Windows Mobile software worldwide. It doesn't say when the first WM devices with this plug-in will be available. But we do know that Flash Lite 3 has already been announced for four Symbian-based Nokia phones (those announced during the Mobile World Congress 2008), and that these will be in the market in Q2. These should give a good indication of what Flash Lite 3.x can do.

For those who don't want to wait, there are ways to get around the "can't play Flash" scourge for your Windows Mobile handhelds. These methods aren't elegant, but they'll get you your YouTube fix on-the-go. Perfect for showing your friends that hilarious "Ken Lee" video when outdoors without a computer. If you want the specifics, remember, Google is your friend.

Via One More Thing (CNET News.com)

Filed under: Handhelds, Mobile Phones
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