NEW YORK - During an IAB MIXX keynote, Adobe Systems Inc. announced the launch of a new service that lets advertisers and publishers promote, measure and monetize applications across social networks and mobile devices.

Called Adobe Flash Platform Services for Distribution, it consists of online, hosted services that let developers add capabilities to Web applications with a predictable deployment model. Targeting developers, advertisers and publishers, Adobe Flash Platform Services are designed to help clients make Web applications sharable, social, collaborative and monetizable.

?We spend a lot of time optimizing banners ads, and while they can be effective, there is so much more we can do to move the interactive advertising industry forward,? said Ann Lewnes, senior vice president of corporate marketing at Adobe, San Francisco. ?Consumers perceive widgets and applications more as content than as advertising.

?One shortcoming is that widgets are difficult to distribute and track, and our partnership with Gigya for the launch of Adobe Flash Platform Services will address those challenges and help developers, advertisers and publishers participate much more in the widget market,? she said.

Adobe is partnering with social media authentication and distribution platform Gigya Inc. to provide advertisers, publishers and game makers with the distribution services platform.

The platform includes a unified management tool to promote, measure and monetize Web applications and games and distribute them to consumers? handsets.

With the growth of social media, advertisers and publishers are looking to more predictable and effective methods to reach audiences via social media, and consumers often access social networks via their handsets.

There are many benefits to using sharable, social applications to connect with customers. However, it can be difficult to get users to install the applications.

Additionally, advertisers, publishers and game developers use distribution methods that do not support all popular destinations and platforms and can be difficult to maintain, according to Adobe.

Many times, simply posting applications in an applications store is the mobile distribution strategy.

Rarely is an overall distribution strategy unified across the Web and mobile, making comprehensive analytics difficult to obtain.

Adobe claims that its new distribution service helps solve these challenges.

By making applications and widgets sharable, brands and publishers can achieve viral distribution.

Flash and other Web applications can be distributed to most Web, desktop and mobile platforms.

The sharing feature lets consumers share applications with a single click on social networking sites, on the desktop and mobile platforms.

Mobile applications distribution
Web applications built with Flash Platform tools, as well as applications created with other technologies, can be distributed to multiple mobile platforms.

Users wishing to install a sharable application on a mobile device will get a text message with a link to the application.

Users then click on the link and Adobe?s distribution service detects the device and delivers the version of the application that is developed and optimized for that specific device.

The mobile distribution is still in beta and is currently free.

Mobile platforms currently supported include Apple?s iPhone, Nokia?s Symbian S60 and Microsoft?s Windows Mobile.

Paid promotion to seed app distribution
Application distribution can be accelerated through paid promotion, according to Adobe, which claims that tens of thousands of Web application installations are possible through a paid cross-promotion model.

Adobe is partnering with Gigya to provide the free and paid methods of Web application distribution.

To measure a campaign?s success and optimize applications through tracking, Adobe and Gigya are offering traditional and social media analytics through the Distribution Manager.

This application, built using Adobe Air software, is designed to promote applications, as well as measure distribution and customer usage.

Publishers and developers can generate revenue through cross?promotion of other Web applications.

When users click to download an application, this feature enables publishers and developers to offer another Web application to the user.

Wall Street Journal Radio widget
The WSJ Radio Network provides audio business news reports and programs to more than 370 radio stations across the country and reaches more than 22 million listeners per week.

WSJ Radio will provide its network affiliates with new business news Web tools for use on their own sites as well as for individual use.

The new widget will offer content from WSJ Radio and WSJ.com, including podcasts, live audio business news updates from The Wall Street Journal Report and The Dow Jones Money Report, as well as updated headlines and video.

The widget will be available for users to view and share via social networking sites, blogs and content can be pushed to their handsets as well.

Adobe Flash Platform Services are managed, hosted and maintained by Adobe and partners, with enhanced capabilities on a pay?per?use basis.

Later this year, Adobe will also make the Social service available, which will let developers more easily connect Flash applications with the social network of their choice including Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Yahoo.

Developers will only need to write an application once to provide users the choice of which social network to access through the application.

Additionally, the Social service will monitor each social network site to ensure that changes to the network don?t break applications.

?Widgets are interactive and updatable?you can push out content on a regular basis,? Ms. Lewnes said. ?They are also sharable, providing a viral endorsement of your brand that somebody has shared with someone else.?