Ironically, Nokia was totally on the ball in announcing that Microsoft's Silverlight rich internet development platform would be coming to its own devices -- but naturally, there are plans in the works to bring it to Windows Mobile, too. Silverlight 1.0 for Mobile (as it's being called) will be available to developers in the second quarter of the year, putting it roughly on the same timeline that Nokia has settled on for the S60 version of the browser plugin. Unfortunately, the first version will only support Silverlight 1.0, despite the fact that 2.0 has already been released for PCs; then again, Flash Lite has historically been at odds with Flash proper, so we suppose it's business as usual.

[Via the::unwired and Windows For Devices]

Microsoft is expected to shore-up its much maligned Internet Explorer Mobile browser this morning by announcing new Flash Lite support. We have no idea when the new plug-in technology (including Reader LE for PDFs) might make it into Windows Mobile. Nevertheless, with the far superior Skyfire and Opera Mobile 9.5 mobile browsers already supporting Flash Lite, and Microsoft's own competing Silverlight not expected to go mobile until the end of the year, it can't be long now can it?

It's always interesting to hear execs chime in on the competition following big announcements. So it's no surprise to hear that Steve Ballmer was peppered with questions about the iPhone during yesterday's Mix '08 event with Guy Kawasaki. When asked about Silverlight -- Microsoft's attempt at usurping Adobe's Flash -- on the Flash-less iPhone, Ballmer said, "Silverlight for the iPhone is of course interesting," adding, "I can't say there's been extensive discussion with Guy's old boss." He also wondered aloud about Apple possibly digging too deeply into developers pockets with its 30% share of application revenue. Ballmer said, "it's a good business if you can make it." A jab at Jobs' claim that Apple doesn't plan to make any money off the App Store. The highlight though came with Ballmer's compliance to recreate his Monkey Boy Dance for Web Developers. Bill, we're going to miss you.

[Thanks, Bryant]

Read -- Q&A on iPhone
Read -- Monkey Boy dance, take 2

Adobe's Flash -- Silverlight's sworn enemy -- is already well-entrenched on a number of devices (including Nokia's) in its Lite incarnation, so it'll be interesting to see just how far Microsoft can really take this beyond its own Windows Mobile territory. Nabbing Nokia is certainly a big win to that end, and even crazier, Nokia has announced that it'll be bringing Silverlight not just to S60 devices, but also to its extremely capable Series 40 dumbphone platform and to Maemo. S60 development is already well underway with an early cut to be shown off at MIX08 this week and developer tools in the pipe for later this year; timelines Series 40 and internet tablet versions, meanwhile, will be "confirmed later."