Nokia and Adobe Launch $10 Million Open Screen Project Fund

At the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Nokia and Adobe Systems Incorporated announced the creation of the $10 million Open Screen Project fund, which is designed to help developers create applications and services for mobile, desktop, and consumer electronics devices using the Adobe Flash platform.

The Open Screen Project is a collaboration of more than 20 companies (including Nokia and Adobe) with one clear vision: to enable consumers to access, utilise, and share rich content seamlessly — regardless of the devices, operating systems, browsers, or networks they use. The new fund is a result of this initiative. Additional Open Screen Project partners are expected to join the fund in the future.

Applications that incorporate Adobe Flash Lite will be considered for funding, and initial areas of focus include: entertainment, social networking, productivity, gaming, and news and information. Those projects with broad appeal — and that make the most of Nokia's platform capabilities — are likely to catch the interest of the combined panel of multi-screen application and services experts from Nokia and Adobe, which will review all of the funding requests that are submitted. Developers retain all rights to their applications, while Adobe and Nokia have the right to evaluate, test, and promote the content.

'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', said Tero Ojanpera, executive vice president (EVP), Nokia Services. '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.'

Nokia delivers devices on a truly global scale and offers developers dependable platforms that are well integrated with the Flash runtime.

Both Nokia and Adobe plan to bring successful applications to multiple distribution channels, such as on device, aggregators, and others. In turn, these distribution channels will bring rich Flash applications and experiences to market segments around the world, creating new business opportunities for developers.

'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 more than one billion Flash-enabled mobile phones and devices shipped across multiple platforms, the fund will enable more developers to bring their rich content and services to a large number of mobile users.'