What the heck is going on with Forum Nokia’s Online Flash Lite packager? It must be months now since Nokia put the project on hold meaning anyone with great Flash Lite content that they’d like to package and distribute will have have to look elsewhere for an alternative.
It’s a real shame because the online packager removed the need for Flash Lite developers to have to install the Symbian S60 SDK directly on their PC. It also meant that Mac owners could package their content without having to get access to a PC. Currently Nokia’s only suggestion is to indeed install the Symbian SDK on a PC and write a Flash Stub application using Carbide c++. For some it’s probably more effort than it’s worth.
It’s just another frustration for those wishing to create Flash Lite applications for the wide range of Nokia devices out there.
All is not lost though. It certainly doesn’t look like the Online Packager solution is gone for good. In fact Forum Nokia has this statement on its site:
We are looking into providing a reliable online packaging solution for Flash… Sorry for any inconvenience caused by this action. We did get a lot of valuable feedback for our next version and wish to thank you all for your input.
It would be great if there were some more details released regarding the new packager. Is there a scheduled release date for it and what new features are we likely to see? If anyone knows then please get in touch.
And when the Online Packager does eventually re-surface let’s hope that Nokia have fixed the ridiculous signing process for Flash Lite content. I don’t really understand why Flash Lite content for Series 40 devices can be packaged in a simple NFL file and distributed without signing, whereas all S60 Flash Lite content has to be Symbian Signed and distributed as a SIS file.
Can’t we just have something similar to the NFL format on S60 devices? Currently it’s just too expensive and time consuming for those writing freeware apps to get their work onto the OVI store. I think it’s also still the case that anyone wanting to release content on the OVI store has to be VAT registered (please someone correct me if I’m wrong) before being allowed to submit content. This again just seems crazy and must surely be preventing many great creative individuals from submitting interesting and free apps to the OVI store.
I also noticed that Alessandro Pace also has similar thoughts regarding the NFL format, suggesting that Nokia push it out across all their devices.
Oh and if you are looking for an alternative packaging solution I’d suggest you take a look at SWF2Go Professional by Faisal Iqbal.
But isn’t Flash Lite dying this year?
http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/14/air-android/
I would assume that Nokia will be desperate to get Air on their devices in order to try and keep their pretence up that they are capable of competing with modern mobiles (i.e. iPhone OS and Android).
Yup, but it would still be nice to be able to package my Flash Lite content for the wide range of Nokia devices that currently don’t support AIR 🙂