Adobe Licenses Flash Lite to Microsoft

The agreement will allow Adobe's mobile Flash player to operate with Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile devices.

In a surprise announcement on Monday, Adobe revealed that it had licensed Flash Lite, a software package for playing Flash files on mobile phones, to Microsoft, which offers a direct competitor to Flash in the form of Silverlight. The licensing agreement will allow Microsoft to include the software in future distributions of Windows Mobile.

While Microsoft’s own Silverlight package is not yet available for mobile phones, reports from earlier this month suggest that a mobile version will be available by the end of this year, leaving some spectators puzzled as to why Microsoft would license a competitor.

Microsoft will also license Adobe Reader LE, a software package to read PDF files on mobile devices, for which it has no direct competitor. It offers features designed to enhance the readability of PDFs on smaller screens.

“People want vibrant web experiences and access to entertainment and information anywhere, anytime,” said John O’Rourke, Microsoft’s general manager of mobile communications business, in a statement. “Bringing Flash Lite and Reader LE to the Windows Mobile experience will give consumers more of their favorite websites on the go.”

Adobe’s press release did not mention when consumers could expect to see both programs available, and Microsoft has yet to make a corresponding press release with more details.