Thursday December 14 02:00 PM EST
Motorola Expands Interactive Wireless
Game Offering
By Mike Mayor, Wireless.NewsFactor.com
Motorola (NYSE: MOT - news) and wireless game company UIEvolution
have announced they will join forces to develop wireless versions of games
that mobile handset users can play against each other using their mobile
phones.
Utilizing Sun Microsystems' Java 2 Platform,
Micro Edition (J2ME) technology, UIEvolution
says it will offer familiar games such as chess,
checkers, hangman, and Space Invaders in a
multi-player format as part of Motorola's new line
of iDEN multiple communication handsets.
No Dial-Up Required
Motorola says its iDEN phones combine the capabilities of a Web-ready
digital wireless phone, text pager and two-way radio. The J2ME technology incorporated into the phones will
enable Java developers to write applications for them. The combination of technologies has been designed to
allow users to play network-based games without having to establish a dial-up connection.
Playing games against each other can be considered another form of personal communication, according to
UIEvolution president and CEO Satoshi Nakajima.
"As we've seen in other parts of the world, users love simple wireless games that they can play with their friends
anywhere, any time," Nakajima said.
The games will become available in the first half of 2001 through network operators Nextel Communications
and Southern LINC in the United States and TELUS Mobility/Clearnet in Canada.
More Customization
The new deal will also enable Motorola customers to further personalize their handsets with applications such
as entertainment and business programs, said Bill Werner, Motorola's corporate vice president and general
manager of the company's iDEN Subscriber Group.
With this announcement and the company's recent alliance with Sega Corporation to develop games for its
iDEN handsets, Motorola is working to capitalize on a rapidly expanding wireless games market.
Motorola manufactures electronic equipment and components. Products include communications systems,
semiconductors, electronic engine controls, and computer systems. Sales in 1999 were US$33.1 billion.
Based in Bellevue, Washington, UIEvolution manufactures a suite of entertainment applications for wireless
devices including mobile phones and personal digital assistants. |
