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As Microsoft readies release 2.0 of its Silverlight rich media technology, it will need to make a better showing on the mobile platform if it is to prove a credible challenger to Adobe Flash. Like Adobe, the Windows giant has been angling to get Silverlight on to the iPhone, but has been rebuffed by Apple; and is now evaluating Google Android. This would be a significant step on Microsoft's recent path to decouple some of its key software technologies from Windows, a strategy adopted painfully, and largely geared to the mobile world, where Windows has failed to gain the dominance it has on the PC.

Scott Guthrie, VP of Microsoft's .Net developer division, said in an interview that it was unlikely Silverlight would turn up on the iPhone, but that Microsoft was "keeping a watchful eye" on Android and could even get Silverlight on to the first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1, made by HTC - a long term close partner of the Windows company. Silverlight 2.0 is already running in the Google Chrome browser, a would-be challenger to Internet Explorer.

In the battle for the rich internet applications (RIA) space, Flash has a huge headstart, installed on 98% of internet connected PCs, 90% of webphones, and with 80% of the internet video market. Silverlight will gain a major boost from Nokia's agreement to distribute the system on its Symbian smartphones, though these also feature Flash, and a Linux version, called Moonlight, is being developed by a team of developers led by Miguel de Icaza at Novell.

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