Kevin Lynch reports that NTT DoCoMo will support Flash on i-mode. This is very cool. A long time ago, in a place far, far away, I spoke about creating a new device independent toolkit, the Flash for mobile devices.
At Reactivity, before Reactivity became an XML Security provider, I proposed an internal venture to create a UI toolkit that would run across platforms using a virtual machine. I had thought about the success that Java and Flash had in getting developers because of the relative ease of deployment to a large user base. It was my opinion that by focusing on building a cross-platform user experience, particularly aimed at mobile users (at the time it was PocketPC, PalmOS, Symbian and others) that we could guarrantee adoption. We pulled the idea because the venture needed to have a large partner like Macromedia to provide support to the platform.
I am really happy to see that Flash has taken steps beyond the desktop. Flash provides a flexible development tool for creating complex user interfaces and user interface widgets. It also means that as a designer/developer/user advocate that I can focus on the interaction instead of learning a new tool.