Macromedia opened Flash up to mass-market mobile handsets last June with the introduction of the Flash Lite player. The widely used Web software continued, however, to be incompatible with the world's most popular smartphone platform, Series 60.

That is, until today.

Macromedia has inked a deal with Nokia to integrate Flash into the mobile phone giant's Symbian-based Series 60 smartphone interface. Nokia also agreed to implement Flash in its other smartphone interfaces, like Series 80 (Communicators) and Series 90 (Media Phones).

As part of the agreement, Macromedia and Nokia said they will also provide integrated mobile development tool sets that will enable developers to more rapidly and efficiently create compelling Flash content for mobile devices. In addition, the companies plan to collaborate on technical documentation and other technical support areas.

Macromedia greatly expands its Flash ecosystem, while Nokia gives its chief customers, mobile operators, a way to build Flash-based services for their subscribers and earn additional revenue through this deal.

Nokia VP of mobile software sales & marketing Antti Vasara said, "This co-operation will also address the requirements of the operators who have developed solutions using Flash. The availability of rich Flash content and applications will help drive the adoption of smartphones and increase the operator ARPU (Average Revenue Per User)."