Here are some interesting developments in the Mobile Java wireless phone sector. Notice that many of the manufactures are utilizing the J2ME platform.
Wireless Week
Peggy Albright
April 18, 2002
Participants at last month's JavaOne conference here noted the 10,000 or so attendants were fewer in number than past years but attributed the decrease to both the economic environment and a general belief that the Java programming language is maturing.
"Java is more prevalent on U.S. campuses than even English," bragged Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun Microsystems Inc., during his keynote at the conference. McNealy used the hyperbole in part to take a jab at Sun's nemesis, Microsoft, and also to acknowledge Java's popularity in the application server market.
One characteristic of the maturation process is it often prompts journeys into new frontiers, and that's in part what is taking place right now as Java, like many other areas of the computing world, enters the wireless environment. Conveniently for the wireless industry, this groundswell of interest is occurring just as wireless service providers need it because they are now crossing into the world of data. Both sides need the other.
Wireless carriers acknowledge the synergy the industry and Java are enjoying right now. Most U.S. carriers, with the exception of Verizon Wireless, which chose Qualcomm's BREW, and many internationally operators have exhibited overt support for the technology in their emerging products and strategic planning.
Nextel Communications Inc. and Motorola, which have sold Java-enabled phones for a year, even used the JavaOne event to introduce their newest Java handset-a jazzy device with a color screen-rather than touting the device in front of their competitors at CTIA Wireless 2002 a week earlier.
Making a direct comparison to that event, David Brudnicki, director of emerging technologies and architecture, multimedia services at AT&T Wireless, told reporters at a press conference: "[JavaOne] is probably one of the larger events where there is excitement in the wireless space."
More than 70 companies displayed products involving wireless, about double the number from last year. While the 2001 event was highlighted by Nokia's promise to sell 50 million Java-enabled handsets in 2002, this year's event could well be remembered as the one in which service providers stepped up to the plate with greater muscle.
Vodafone, the world's largest operator, was at JavaOne in force, bringing a cadre of executives and staff from the United Kingdom to entice developers to help it advance its Java initiatives. "By the end of the year, there will be 100 million Java devices in the market," said Amit Pau, CEO of global business and partner markets for Vodafone. "Five percent of those will be connected to the Vodafone network."
The company urged developers to get involved in its new global developers program, called via.vodafone.com, and hyped the company's addition of a Web services interface that it says will make it easier for developers to deploy their applications on any of Vodafone's networks worldwide.
Nextel, which was the first to sell Java phones and now has 1.3 million in use in the United States, introduced what it calls the Mobile Application Manager, a software program that will help its enterprise customers manage and distribute Java applications over the air to their employees. Nextel developed the MAM in conjunction with 4thpass Inc., whose mobile application system technology powers the system. The program enables an enterprise administrator to control which employees should get which applications over their devices, when they should get them and how, among other application management and distribution features. Nextel says the system will be available this quarter. "This fills a big hole for enterprises," says Ernie Cormier, vice president for enterprise solutions at Nextel.
Nextel also announced it will market the new Motorola i95cl handset as soon as the handset is available, probably this summer. It also showed off the Motorola i55sr, which it described as a "rugged" J2ME handset designed for use in an outdoor work environment.
Motorola made a commotion with that device, getting it onstage with McNealy and others to show developers what they can do with J2ME applications. At its booth, Motorola showed off about 20 applications and services developed with its many partners.
One featured application called the CardioConnect, developed by VTTi, enables a mobile phone to display a user's heart rate in real time and to illustrate the heart beats on an animated image of the human heart. The phone can read the user's heart rate via a wireless connection to a heart monitor.
Another of the innovative demos showed off a technique for running facial recognition software on mobile phones. The application was developed by Visionics Corp. and Wirehound for an unnamed law enforcement agency. Visionics is an identification technology company and Wirehound is a software development company that is creating J2ME applications for vertical markets. The application will enable law enforcement personnel to identify criminals on the spot by comparing a suspect's photograph with mug shots in police databases.
Motorola launched its mobile service Café server, a suite of software services the company will use to promote deployment of mobile services from multiple developer communities and manufacturers. It also announced Java application programming interfaces, a reference implementation and a technology compatibility kit that will enable people to develop Bluetooth applications and device profiles for Java handsets.
Research In Motion Ltd. used the JavaOne conference to officially announce that its BlackBerry 5810 device, which will run on GSM and GPRS networks in North America, is completely Java based. The company has been selling the device in the United Kingdom since September. It wants the enterprise market to see the device as a corporate computing asset that the enterprises themselves, not individual employees, need to manage. RIM also introduced its BlackBerry Developer Environment for the J2ME platform so developers can develop enterprise applications for this line of handheld devices.
Nokia, the No. 1 handset manufacturer in the world, announced it now is offering Tradepoint, Nokia's business-to-business virtual marketplace to bring Java application developers and wireless carriers together, as a hosted solution for wireless operators. The service, called the Tradepoint Java Broker Service, is in trials with several operators here and abroad and is intended to make it easier for operators to select Java applications and deploy those applications on their networks.
Nokia also announced it has expanded the Nokia OK testing and evaluation service by adding two new testing centers that have global reach. It is offering the testing service at a discounted price of $400 to the first 150 J2ME applications tested. Nokia OK is the label Nokia gives third-party products to designate its approval of the product.
Many other operators, manufacturers and organizations touted new developer tools. Siemens introduced itself to the Java community here, showing off Java devices and announcing a developer network. Similarly, Sprint PCS had a new software resource, including toolkits and emulators, available to developers on a CD-ROM.
Kada Systems, a company that has a development platform for building and deploying Java applications on mobile devices, rolled out additional J2ME development tools and announced it now can certify J2ME applications and it has received the "Java Powered" brand.
Tira Wireless, another company that helps developers create J2ME applications and provides certification, publication and distribution services for those developers, launched the Tira Developer Network. Tira also announced that Southern Linc, an iDEN network operator, has joined its Mobile Operator Network so that it can offer its subscribers Java applications published by Tira.
These advancements portray just a sampling of new opportunities for companies and individuals seeking to advance Java capabilities to wireless phones. The challenge now is to deliver. Please visit wirelessweek.com for more information. <<
=====================================================
Sun Microsystems and the Getty Museum to Create Next-Generation Museum Experience Leveraging Sun One Vision;
J. Paul Getty Museum Chooses Sun to Design and Implement Visitor Guide System Using Cutting-Edge Wireless Technology
Monday April 15 12:00am
PR Newswire
Copyright 2002 PR Newswire Association, Inc.
(http://wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=story&articleId=LN45KR-RMT0-010D-R52K-00000-00)
==========================================================
Microsoft is hot on Sunw's trail with their proposed standard . . .
Microsoft Mobile .NET Moves Tempt ISVs and Operators
Thursday April 18 12:00am
ComputerWire
Copyright 2002 ComputerWire
(http://wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=story&articleId=LN45M6-9GM0-015K-X4PF-00000-00)
From the article: "...Mobile2Market could be a godsend for hard-pressed ISVs and mobile operators that are keen to start offering wireless applications and services to consumers. In comparison, the approach typically adopted for the rival Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) technology tends to see mobile operators dealing with the complexities of compliance and delivery issues in-house.
This factor has almost certainly contributed to the slow deployment of the technology. As such, Microsoft's initiative may induce at least some operators to rethink their mobile applications strategies if their J2ME plans are not well advanced. ..."
EKS |
