The next video in the “Developing with Flash Lite” series has just been uploaded – “Key Press Events in Flash Mobile Applications“. Check it out!
If there’s a particular topic that you would like to see covered in this series, drop me a line or leave a comment here with your suggestion, and I’ll see what we can do 
Another video in my series “Developing with Flash Lite” has just been uploaded and is ready for viewing – “Animation in Flash Mobile Applications“. Animation can greatly enhance the user experience of mobile applications, and Adobe Flash, with its roots as an animation tool, has no lack of capability in this area. This episode looks at three methods of creating movement (motion tween, onEnterFrame() and the Tween Class) and how these can impact your Flash mobile application.
Don’t forget you can follow @flashmobile on Twitter for updates on new videos, as well as link to all of them from the Adobe Mobile and Devices Developer Center.
A little while back I suggested that I would try and be forthcoming with our sales numbers through Ovi so that the Flash development community could see what was happening behind the scenes with us on this new sales channel. This certainly wasn’t to say that I thought Moket’s content would be the biggest selling through the store (far from it) but I thought it would be helpful since we have been in the Ovi Store from the start.
As some of you will know, Ovi’s reporting screens were removed for quote some time while they were “fixed”, and have just become available again over the weekend. Here’s what I can show you now in terms of how things have been progressing for us: Read More
Here’s an interesting video with Robert Scoble talking to Anup Murarka (Dir. Technology and Strategy at Adobe) about Flash on TV (Digital Home). In it they discuss the Flash player and Flash Media Server as a platform for delivering full HD video to TV’s over the internet, combined with of course other content and web applications to create the next generation of home entertainment (or as Robert suggests, the 2010 web). Jump in around 12:20 to hear them start talking about Flash Player 10 on mobile devices.
I think it’s interesting to hear Anup talk about the change in direction for Flash on mobile over the past 12 months or so. When he describes the shift from a mobile-specific player (Flash Lite) to parity with the desktop version, it really sounds like something they should have been doing years ago. However obvious it sounds, devices have had to evolve a lot before this could be started and so I think the timing is definitely right to be on this path now.
The Open Screen Project gives me hope that what we’re seeing demonstrated now on the TV with Flash won’t be the same as Flash on mobile 4 years ago – so much promise but the commercial realities of getting the technology to market was never going to allow it to be a straightforward as was being said. With all of the vendors involved with OSP, the Flash Platform has a greater chance of success than with Adobe trying to shoehorn it into the market through specialized players and the promise of great content.
And while we continue to work in an industry that thrives on the “excitement of what is just around the corner next year”, there’s no doubt to me that there’s certainly some exciting opportunities opening up.
Ever seen “Flash content error: 4″? What about his cousins 6 or 9?
Yes? Know what they mean? No, didn’t think so. But don’t worry, you’re not alone, even amongst Flash Lite developers. These “error codes” have been in existence right from the early days of Flash Lite 1.0 and haven’t changed a lot between now and then. Problem is that (obviously) they aren’t very descriptive which doesn’t help with determining some problems when developing your application. They’re OS level errors given by the player, which means you can’t catch them or interact with them through your application.
What’s worse is when a consumer sees these appear in something they have bought or downloaded. I’ve personally experienced this one with a major Flash Lite application deployed by a high-profile entertainment brand and thought to myself, “At least I know what’s happening here, this would be a major turn-off if I was just Joe Public using this mobile app”.
Unfortunately today I’ve come across some comments left by a consumer of another major Flash Lite app on the Nokia Ovi Store, asking, “whats a flash error 6 and 9?”. Oh dear … not a great customer experience and no doubt creating doubt in the mind of that consumer (and others who read his comments) when it comes to downloading content like this in the future (fortunately this and the other app I mentioned were free – but that’s not the point).
For those who are interested, Scott has a list of the errors and their meaning over on his blog, but really this needs to be seriously looked at for future drops of the Flash Lite player. I don’t know if Flash Player 10 for mobile will have a similar set of OS-level error codes, but I’ll put it out there alongside Alessandro that FP10 for mobile needs to avoid this situation at all costs. My concern is not so much for developers, but for consumers who come across these errors – after all these are the people who ultimately make creating Flash mobile applications a potential business for us!
I'm currently the Team Lead for "Appland" at Vodafone Hutchison Australia, based in Sydney. Views on this blog are my own and not that of my employer.
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