Adobe Systems  and BenQ Mobile,  the recently-launched division of BenQ Corporation, have announced a licensing agreement for Macromedia Flash Lite technology. BenQ aims to build the technology into its BenQ-Siemens branded handsets which it is launching aggressively in Europe, Asia and North Latin America.   
Flash Lite has been developed specifically for mobile phones, and will power the user experience across BenQ-Siemens devices, including customised user interfaces and enhanced content and browsing. BenQ Mobile expects to begin integrating Flash Lite into its mobile handset offerings in the fourth quarter of 2006.
"By integrating Flash technology into our user interfaces, we're helping ensure consumers have easy access to the incredible capabilities of our mobile handsets," says BenQ Mobile CEO, Clemens J Joos. "For too long the handset market has been obsessed by industrial design while forgetting that consumers interact with their phone through the screen and keypad. BenQ -Mobile recognises that world-class design integrates hardware and software into a single memorable user experience."
The announcement was made at the 3GSM show in Barcelona, where BenQ also took the wraps off three new handsets, including the EF91 (pictured), which it claims will be the worlds first HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access, aka 3.5G) phone to reach the market, in time for this Summers World Cup. Samsung may have something to say about that, having unveiled the ZX20 as the worlds first commercially-available HSDPA handset earlier this year, but a BenQ spokesman told Mobile Masrketing that he believed the Samsung handset would not be available until August, one month after the EF91.
T-Mobile has confirmed to Mobile Marketing that the EF91 will be its first HSDPA handset when the company launches its 3.5G network in Germany in the next few weeks, and in the UK this summer.
Virtually all the UK networks are looking at HSDPA, which will offer a significant increase in data speeds over 3G. O2 is trialling the technology in the Isle of Man, offering data speeds of 1.4 Mbps, while Vodafone made its first HSDPA data call in December, but T-Mobile is the first to commit to launching a HSDPA service, offering speeds of up to 1.8Mbps. For more on this, click here.