Nokia Turns On the Silverlight

Joe Wilcox News Analysis: Windows Mobile hold-out Nokia is giving Microsoft some other love: Silverlight.

As my eWEEK colleague Darryl Taft reported today, Nokia will support Silverlight on its Symbian OS S60 platform. Microsoft plans to demo Silverlight on S60 during tomorrow's MIX08 keynote address.

Whoosh. That's the sound of Adobe executives sucking in their collective breaths. S60 distribution cues up Silverlight as a bigger Flash competitor, some might say Flash killer.

Flash already dominates the Web through desktop PCs and has strong footing on mobile devices. But Flash's footing isn't yet firm there, and the mobile device market dwarfs the PC market. Based on combined analyst reports, more than 1.2 billion cell phones will ship this year. By comparison, the entire Windows PC install base is expected to reach 1 billion units, based on Microsoft estimates.

Something else: Nokia sells more mobile phones and ships more mobile operating systems than any other cell phone manufacturer or developer. Nokia will give Silverlight much broader reach than it could organically have gotten. Something more: The Flash support on my Nokia N95 phone is somewhat clunky. Web-based Flash content launches a mobile version of Real Player.

Today's unanswered question, which Microsoft may answer tomorrow at MIX08 is how will S60 support Silverlight? Nokia S60 phone Web browsing is pretty good, based on my testing, second only to iPhone. Will Silverlight plug into the browser or launch as a standalone player? Will Nokia incorporate Silverlight into S60?

Adobe's Flash incentive can't be as great as Microsoft's determination with Silverlight. Microsoft's product is nowhere, and Flash is everywhere. Silverlight can only go up. Microsoft is desperate to push out its advertising platform. Microsoft executives have got to be tired of getting their asses kicked by Google (Do they even have chairs at Microsoft anymore, for all the sore bums?)

Silverlight would open the way for more ad-supported content delivered to cell phones. If Silverlight becomes available on hundreds of millions of cell phones, Microsoft can go back to content developers and potential advertisers hawking its development tools and, more importantly, ad platform. Adobe doesn't have an advertising platform. Will for will, Adobe is outmatched.

Microsoft and Nokia are strange bedfellows. In early February, Sony Ericsson announced its first Windows Mobile-based cell phone, the X1. The announcement made Nokia the sole major cell phone manufacturer holding out on Windows Mobile. Yet, Nokia has embraced other Microsoft technologies. S60 phones support Windows Media Audio DRM content. WMA music purchased from online music stores will play on S60 phones.

Silverlight adds to the strange partnership—strange because Microsoft and Nokia are fierce mobile operating system competitors. But there's sense to Silverlight support. Nokia positions S60 as a mobile applications platform, which resonates well with Microsoft's Silverlight goals. Tomorrow, Microsoft and Nokia hopefully will make clear just how well the S60 and Silverlight strategies resonate.

Discreet Silverlight applications, particularly single-function ad-supported widgets, would benefit S60 and Microsoft's Flash competitor.

Related Posts:

• What $3 Million Buys Silverlight, Microsoft Watch, March 3, 2008
• Adobe Points AIR Gun at Microsoft, Microsoft Watch, Feb. 25, 2008
• Windows Mobile Flys the X1, Microsoft Watch, Feb. 10. 2008
• Microsoft Silverlights the Olympic Torch, Microsoft Watch, Jan. 7, 2008
• Windows Vista's 100 Million, Microsoft Watch, Jan. 6, 2008
• Gates and the New User Face, Microsoft Watch, Jan. 6, 2008
• Who's the Jackass?, Microsoft Watch, Dec. 14, 2007
• Novell Turns on the Silverlight, Microsoft Watch, Sept. 5, 2007
• Which Comes First, Software or Services?, Microsoft Watch, July 9, 2007
• One Redmond Way | Razorfish, Microsoft Watch, May 21, 2007
• When Is 'Open' More Open for Microsoft?, Microsoft Watch, May 17, 2007
• Microsoft MIXes It Up, Microsoft Watch, April 30, 2007
• Silverlight: What's In a Name?, Microsoft Watch, April 16, 2007