Silverlight 2: Google Chrome support, yes; iPhone, no

Microsoft announced, as expected, on Monday that the second version of its Silverlight browser plug-in is done and will be available imminently for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Mac OS X, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. An Apple iPhone port is not in the works, due to Apple restrictions, the Softies said, but the new plug-in works well now with Google's Chrome browser, currently in beta.

Microsoft officials said Silverlight 2 will be available for download from the company's Silverlight site starting on October 14. They also said that anyone using a beta version of Silverlight 2 or Silverlight 1 will be "automatically upgraded" via Microsoft's various patching systems to Silverlight 2 in the coming months. (However, users will be able to block the Silverlight 2 download if they decide to do so.)

During a call with press and analysts announcing its Silverlight 2 release, Microsoft execs repeated multiple times that Silverlight has gained substantial market share -- a claim that seemingly flies in the face of most market-share numbers I've seen over the past year or so comparing Adobe Flash share to Silverlight share.

Microsoft says that "one in four consumers worldwide has access to a computer with Silverlight already installed." In some (unspecified) countries, Silverlight deployment is already over 50 percent, company officials said on Monday. (Remember: Just because a PC has Silverlight on it doesn't mean that it doesn't have Flash installed, too.)

Microsoft expects Silverlight 2 to be on "hundreds of millions of machines" within a relatively short time, officials added. Hewlett-Packard signed a deal earlier this year to preload Silverlight on new machines; officials suggested more similar deals may be in the offing.

Officials said to expect more news on how Microsoft is Silverlight-enabling its own next-generation apps in the coming weeks/months. I wouldn't be surprised to see some of the new Live Mesh applications Microsoft is building -- or maybe even Office 14 applications -- helping to enable PowerPoint to run online/offline in the browser, for example.

One thing I was surprised about regarding today's announcement that the Softies played up their ubiquity claims over its cross-platform messaging.  The .Net Framework and Common Language Runtime are now officially cross-platform, with Windows and Mac support today and Linux (via Novell's Moonlight work) coming some time in the future.

Microsoft is set to discuss the status of Silverlight 2 on Windows Mobile at the Professional Developers Conference in two weeks. The company is known to be working with Nokia to get Silverlight on Nokia/Symbian platforms. And there's talk of Microsoft and RIM possibly collaborating on getting Silverlight on new RIM phones in the not-too-distant future.

During the press/analyst call, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Scott Guthrie said that if Apple decides to enable browser plug-ins from third-party vendors like Microsoft, Microsoft would be interested in adding Silverlight support for the iPhone. Guthrie also noted that the latest beta version of Google's Chrome browser for Windows now supports Silverlight 2 and renders Silverlight content cleanly. (He said the initial Chrome beta release didn't work right with Silverlight 2 betas.)

Guthrie said Apple's prohibition against browser plug-ins isn't against Microsoft only; he said Apple has decided against allowing any third-party developer to make them available for the iPhone.

"If they (Apple) will let us, we will definitely come" to the iPhone, Guthrie said.