We’re really happy to announce today that Microsoft has become a licensee of Flash Lite 3 for their Windows Mobile platform. We have been asked again and again for this support since Flash Lite 3 was launched and we’re very glad to be able to bring you the news. Many manufacturers create Windows Mobile devices including HTC, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

From Microsoft, “One of the hallmark experiences on any smartphone is the Web browsing experience,” said Snyder, a product manager with Microsoft’s mobile-communications business.

The implementation will be as a plugin to the Internet Explorer browser, which means that developers and WM users will be able to browse the web and experience it just like on their desktop. Flash Lite will not be used for standalone content, wallpapers and screensavers on the Windows Mobile platform. As a developer you can build their Flash Lite content and place it on the web directly and this enables you to integrate HTML into the experience too.

Another piece of great news is that Flash Lite licensing has accelerated in Q1, we are now officially shipping on half a billion devices.