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.

For now, Asia is Macromedia's biggest market for Flash-powered mobile applications and phones. Thanks to NTT DoCoMo, the first carrier to offer Flash Lite, Japanese consumers have been exposed to Flash on their cell phones for nearly two years. Research firm Yankee Group estimates that nearly 15 million NTT DoCoMo subscribers have Flash-enabled phones. That's because nearly 2,700 developers use Flash-powered sites to sell phone applications such as interactive subway maps and manga (Japanese comics) for handsets. A similar phenomenon is playing out in Korea, another early adopter of Flash Lite. "Worldwide, there are probably 30 million devices running Flash Lite, the vast majority of which are cell phones," says Anup Muraka, the senior marketing director for Macromedia's mobile devices division.

Just as it did for the estimated 1 million developers of Flash applications for the PC, Macromedia makes generating content for cell phones a no-brainer. Designers don't have to write code; they simply create their products using the Flash authoring tool and export them to cell phones. By comparison, languages such as Java require a far greater level of sophistication -- meaning developers must actually program to get their inventions working. Both communities produce incredibly useful applications, but Flash tends to lower the barrier to entry, which opens the doors for nontechie types to introduce a wide range of content. 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.

It's a dangerous business to assume that everything that's big in Asia -- especially when it comes to cell phones -- will be big elsewhere. However, Macromedia's Flash Lite should make the jump with no problem. Handsets in the West are already catching up with those in Asia, and 3G networks are finally becoming commonplace in many developed markets. In addition to Indiagames, companies such as the Cartoon Network, CNN, and Reuters are developing Flash-based applications for cell phones in Europe and elsewhere. Once Flash becomes more widespread, the applications created by these entertainment and news businesses should become far more prevalent. At that point, it won't be long before our phones become a truly fun (and useful) platform.