Bsquare Brings Flash Lite To Android DevicesBsquare Brings Flash Lite To Android Devices

Bsquare said it would be porting Adobe's Flash technology to Android devices, potentially enabling mobile users to view Web sites such as YouTube or Hulu on-the-go.

The embedded software company said it will port Flash Lite 3 to ARM-based devices that run the Google-backed Android 1.5 operating system. Bsquare expects to release the browser plug-in late in the third quarter, or early in the fourth quarter. When it is released, users could potentially get the software as part of an over-the-air update, Bsquare said.

"Our Flash platform technology browser plug-in will be valuable to OEMs building ARM-based smartbooks and to those who are developing other types of Android devices requiring a rich media experience that is fundamentally different than anything else available for users today," said Larry Stapleton, Bsquare's VP of global sales, in a statement.

Flash Lite is not as capable as the desktop version. Essentially it will only work with sites that render Flash Player 8 files. Those who aren't satisfied with the Lite version won't have to wait very long for the full version, as Adobe said it would have a beta version of Flash 10 available for mobile developers in October.

The move is part of Adobe strategy to place Flash on as many devices as possible. It has established the Open Screen Project to help achieve this goal. The company said it will bring the full version of Flash to Android, Microsoft's Windows Mobile, Nokia's S60 Symbian, and Palm's webOS in 2010.

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