Nokia, Adobe team up in $10 million deal

NOKIA and Adobe, have announced a US$ 10 million Open Screen Project fund designed to help developers create applications and services for mobile, desktop and consumer electronics devices using the Adobe Flash® Platform.

The new fund is a result of the Open Screen Project, an industry-wide initiative of more than 20 industry leaders set to enable a consistent experience for web browsing and standalone applications. Additional Open Screen Project partners are expected to join the fund in the future.

“We are excited about the Open Screen Project fund and the possibilities it offers to designers and developers worldwide,” said David Wadhwani, General Manager and Vice President, Platform Business Unit at Adobe. “With close to 40 percent of all new mobile devices shipped worldwide with Flash Lite in 2008, the fund will enable more developers to bring their rich content and services to a large number of mobile users.”

Said Tero Ojanpera, Executive Vice President, Nokia Services,” The Open Screen Project fund encourages the use of Adobe tools and existing developer skills to create exciting and unique Flash applications for millions of Nokia devices. With more than 300 million Flash enabled Nokia devices in market, we will support these developers through the Forum Nokia developer community while providing a more targeted distribution channel to consumers with Nokia’s Ovi Store.”

Announced in May 2008, the Open Screen Project is designed to enable a consistent runtime environment across screens. The initiative is dedicated to enable web content, standalone applications and full web browsing across televisions, set-top boxes, mobile devices and other consumer electronics that take advantage of Adobe AIR(TM) and Adobe Flash capabilities.

Meanwhile, Nokia has unveiled two new additions to its Eseries range, the Nokia E75 and Nokia E55, which are the first to ship with the company’s new email user interface.

Both devices come standard with Nokia Messaging that, when added to the company’s corporate email clients, gives people the efficient solution for accessing the world’s consumer and corporate email on the go.

“Efficiency is about doing more with less and focusing on what’s truly essential,” said Oistamo,.

“With direct access to Microsoft Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes, companies can potentially save up to a third of their operating costs as there’s no need for middleware or additional servers.”