With Flash not good enough�for the iPhone, and Microsoft’s rival streaming system Silverlight making mobile inroads thanks to a deal with�Nokia last week, the obvious question has been whether Microsoft will slip past Adobe and secure a spot on Apple’s lucrative cellphone.� Obvious, maybe, but certainly controversial: pundits and analysts alike are unable to agree on whether the software giant will be launching an iPhone version of Silverlight anytime soon.� Computerworld reports that, at CeBIT�last week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer sounded dubious about the prospect, dismissing claims that the two companies had discussed the possibility and citing doubts that Apple was interested in royalty-free runtimes:

“It sure seems like they’re trying to charge a whole lot more money for it.� Maybe Apple isn’t welcoming open and royalty-free runtimes on it”Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft

However TechRadar�claims�that the Silverlight team itself are already looking at ways to implement the application using the freshly-announced iPhone SDK.�

“We�re interested in taking Silverlight across all available platforms, not just Windows Mobile handsets � as we have shown with the Nokia deal.��I don�t know a lot about it but the licensing model on the iPhone is challenging and that could be an obstacle. But in terms of the SDK, we will certainly take a look at it and see if we can get Silverlight running on the iPhone”John Allwright, Expression project manager, Microsoft

While many have pointed out that Apple’s quoted 30-percent royalty fees would be nonexistant on a free download, Microsoft seem convinced that Apple would attempt to levy a somewhat unique charge for Silverlight distribution.� The two companies have recently collaborated on a new version of ActiveSync�for the iPhone, streamlining its connection to Exchange servers.

Microsoft is apparently seeing around 1.5 million downloads of Silverlight each day.