Boston, MA - January 16, 2008 - The Strategy Analytics Handset Component Technologies service release, "Flash-Enabled Handset Forecast: 91 Percent Global Growth in 2007 as Flash Lite Gains Momentum outside Japan," forecasts annual Adobe Flash Lite-enabled cellphone shipments to grow to around 840 million units in 2012 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 31.6 percent from 2007 to 2012. Flash Lite penetration in cellphones grew from 11.2 percent in 2006 to 19.0 percent in 2007 and is expected to grow to 61.9 percent by 2012.

While the base of Flash Lite-enabled cellphones continues to strengthen in Japan, Strategy Analytics predicts that in 2008, shipments of Flash Lite-enabled phones in the rest of the Asia Pacific region and Western Europe will exceed the shipments in Japan for the first time since its introduction. Strategy Analytics forecasts the Asia-Pacific region to account for nearly 40 percent of the worldwide shipments of Flash Lite-enabled cellphones by 2012.

Flash Lite 3.0 and any other future versions are expected to gain momentum from 2008 onwards and account for two-thirds of the worldwide shipments of Flash Lite-enabled phones in 2012. "We believe that the addition of video support in Flash Lite 3.0 will add significant value to the Flash Lite proposition and will enable popular online Flash-based video services MySpace and YouTube to be accessed via mobile devices," notes Stuart Robinson, Director of the Handset Component Technologies service.

Stephen Entwistle, VP of the Strategy Analytics Strategic Technologies Practice adds, "Alternative content platforms such as Java and BREW currently have a significantly higher installed base than Flash Lite. However, Java Micro Edition (J2ME) is suffering from fragmentation and compatibility issues and is more complex to develop than Flash Lite."