I-Mode opinions

I-Mode is a NTTDocomo' service born in 1999.
It uses Flash Lite 1.x so you understand why I talk about it here ;)
Some info on Adobe website.

At this time, it is used in 16 countries and 47.6millions users

Since I-Mode is available in France throught Bouygues Telecom, I thought it could be a way to use Flash Lite.

Unfortunatly, the results are not that good :
- 2 companies (KPN & MTS) seems to close their IMode service soon because the benefits aren't enought
- Docomo was unable to access India throught Hutch Essar
- no North America's operator, no South America's operator, no Canada operator
- I didn't find any news of I-Mode update for FL2.x support

So, for me, it's useless to focus ONLY on I-Mode.
A company needs to work on others services, or work a lot for Japan!

anyway, there is a chance my wife's next mobile will support I-Mode ;)

Prototyping

Another use of Flash Lite : prototyping.

Let's say you have a complexe Symbian application to release.
You can easily make a prototype (UI, clickstream, etc..) in Flash Lite for validation.

I2 Tecnologia proposes it for example.

Analyse from Handango's Flash contents

I wanted to wait some weeks before to do it but someone already did it

Mariam posted an intersting point of view of current Flash Lite content available on Handango

I think wallpaper and screensaver can't be sold so much. People will say 'but it needed a lot of art works!". Yes, it's hard to find the equality between quality and price, but it's a reality : who want to pay 5$ for a wallpaper ?!

Yes, I'm alright with her analyse (low cost Flash Lite content).
So another analyse need to be done :

The main goal of this blog is to find a way, if any, to make money with Flash Lite content.
More than before, I'm sure business applications are the only way.
Perhaps games too, but you need to follow the GameLoft way : licence games, which need to be paid.

Let's be honest, the possibility to release a mega hit casual game is very small.
A company living with wallpapers, screensavers and games need to release a lot of them : minimum cost for maximum benefits.

Now or later

It's now clear.
Although Flash Lite 2 is available since March '06, there are still very few devices which support it.
A lot of developers still work on Flash 1.1, waiting for mass Flash Lite 2.x supported devices released.

So here I am, I'll study Flash Lite 2.x (+ XHTML Basic and CSS) from now, waiting for the same thing ;)
In fact, all is under Adobe's makerting force hands !

I'm waiting for my FL2.0 capable (not enabled) phone, I'll so be able to write my case studies in some weeks.