Flash media on your phone! Stranger things have happened I suppose. Still, this leads me to wonder if this is something that could have practical applications rather than those being sought out by people interested in the gaming aspects.

The mobile version of Macromedia’s popular Flash player has been conspicuous mostly by its absence outside Japan. But the company has announced a licensing deal that should greatly expand its footprint.

There’s little doubt that Flash could be a disruptive force in the mobile market. Through opening up mobiles to the legions of Flash developers, and empowering a generation of user-created content from non-developers, the potential is clear. But unlike the wired Internet, where the free availability of Flash played a role in its ubiquity, Macromedia chose not to release Flash Lite openly and publicly, preferring to bind it to handsets, and in some cases, carrier-supported applications. Consequently, outside Japan, where Flash Lite is on about 15 percent of handsets, the software has been little more than a talking point.

Now, following last month’s announcement that Samsung would install Flash Lite on its handsets comes the announcement that Nokia has licensed the software, first for its Series 60 smartphone platform, and later on its other platforms.