Adobe's Flash to Hit the Phones

By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 2/22/2010 9:33:00 AM

Premium-movie service Epix and video-management provider Brightcove are among those looking to dig into the mobility features baked into Adobe Systems’ forthcoming Flash 10.1 platform.

Flash 10.1 is to be available on several phone platforms, including Google’s Android, Symbian S60, Palm webOS, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry. The product is expected to be generally available by mid-2010.

Epix, a joint venture of Viacom, Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer and Lionsgate formed in 2008, said it will use Flash 10.1 to provide authenticated subscribers access to full-length movies as well as programming extras.

The venture — whose multiscreen delivery play was conceived as one of its key differentiators — also is developing a “bookmark” feature to let users pause a movie they’re watching on TV or online and resume watching it on a mobile device.

The new mobile service will be available as an additional option to distributors, according to Epix.

Brightcove, for its part, said customers already using the beta version of its Flash 10.1- based mobile service include AOL, Th e New York Times, The Weinstein Group and National Geographic.