From the Oddcast web site. This is something we've been waiting for for a while, as we think there is real power in having avatars running on mobile phones (quite apart from fulfilling the vision of all those corporate vision videos from Nokia and Motorola in the 1990s.
"Late last week, Macromedia showed just how badly it wants to be in mobile phones. The San Francisco-based software developer, best known for its Flash and Dreamweaver authoring tools, invested $1.8 million in Indiagames, a tiny software developer based in Mumbai, India, that's been actively using a version of Flash to create games and other content for cell phones.
Macromedia's move is an effort to make Flash as ubiquitous on the newest media platform as it is on the PC. With the latest cell phones offering full-color screens and speedy processors -- and running on far faster networks than ever before -- today's handsets are beginning to look more and more like tiny personal computers. As they evolve, so too does the content that can run on them. "We're focused on developing and growing the mobile ecosystem," says Betsey Nelson, Macromedia's Chief Financial Officer. "This is a huge market for us."
The company is pushing hard to ensure that Flash-powered content plays a starring role in the new, wireless platform. In February, Nokia (NOK) announced that its upcoming Series 60 phones would integrate Macromedia's Flash Lite technology. In January, Samsung announced that some of its new phones would use an all-Flash user interface, while others would come bundled with the Flash Lite player. Macromedia has agreements with Japan's largest carriers, including NTT DoCoMo and KDDI."
Oh, and ...
"Last week I saw one product, developed by New York-based Oddcast, that uses Flash-animated avatars for a variety of education-related tasks, including teaching people how to speak foreign languages. It was an oddly compelling, and effective, way to learn Spanish."
- yet another way to use chatbots.
