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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Biddle who wrote (31908)	1/30/2003 6:34:49 PM
From: John Biddle	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 197001

Sun's Java rules shape future of phones businessweek.com Sun Microsystems unveils its first-ever guidelines for the use of Java in cell phones, an effort to bring order to how the programming language is evolving for wireless. Sun Microsystems released its first-ever guidelines for the use of Java in cell phones, an effort to shape up the chaotic way in which the programming language has been developed thus far for application in the world of wireless. With its Java Technology for the Wireless Industry "road map," released Thursday, Sun and its allies began exercising a little more control over Java, which carriers use to sell downloadable games, ring tones or business applications. Until now, the programming language's evolution in cell phones has been left to the industry, which settled on the basic pieces during a two-year-long free-for-all of development. Sun's JTWI establishes what the company thinks should be the basic elements of Java for cell phones and lays out what additions will appear on its list during the next 12 months. "What we are trying to do is present a better vision of what kinds (of applications) will be available in a majority of phones, and when," said Nicolas Lorain, a senior product manager at Sun. Although voluntary, the initiative will likely dictate the future of cell phones. JTWI already has the backing of Ericsson, Nokia and Motorola, which make 60 percent of the world's cell phones. Also signing on are major carriers including NTT DoCoMo of Japan, Vodafone and Orange in the United Kingdom, and U.S. carriers Sprint PCS and T-Mobile, Lorain said. Indeed, the industry seems pleased with the effort to bring some law and order to the wireless frontier, said Yankee Group wireless technology analyst John Jackson. "The way Java was developing was a disservice to the technology," Jackson said of the hands-off approach Sun had exercised till now. "Things were just moving too fast in the wireless world." The first test of JTWI's teeth comes in February, the date set by the guidelines for manufacturers to begin adding a user interface licensed by PalmSource to Java phones, said Lorain. By 2004, Lorain said, Java phones will get a total of nine new functions, including instant messaging and the ability to tap into credit card or bank accounts. He expects that the first phones to follow the new guidelines will debut by year's end. To follow the entire road map, manufacturers will also have to license software from Motorola, Nokia, Sun and Tira Wireless. Raising the ramparts Sun's move also bolsters Java against challenges from Qualcomm and Microsoft, which make software that, like Java, lets phones download software. Sun's Java is by far the market leader, having had a year's head start over competitors. But Qualcomm is starting to gain some ground with its Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) software, having recently signed up a sixth carrier to launch a download service using the technology. Microsoft, even later to the market than Qualcomm, lurks in the background. The three are battling to win dominance of a market just beginning to show some promise in the United States and elsewhere. Nearly every U.S. carrier has begun selling downloads, as they desperately seek new revenue sources to help dig themselves out of a two-year earnings dive. Verizon's Get It Now, which uses BREW, and Sprint's PCS Vision are two such services. Most of the download profits are from ring tones--song snippets that replace a phone's prepackaged ring. Artists received a record amount of royalties, $71 million, last year from the sale of ring tones based on their songs. By Ben Charny, Staff Writer, CNET News.com

To: John Biddle who wrote (31908)	1/30/2003 9:11:04 PM
From: cfoe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 197001

More BS from NOK. Nokia hooks into North American market By Ben Charny Staff Writer, CNET News.com January 30, 2003, 2:29 PM PT news.com.com A cell phone standard with a tongue-twister name is Nokia's new weapon to sell more phones in North America, a company executive said. Some North American carriers will begin testing Nokia-made handsets based on a standard called CDMA2000 1xEV-DV during trials later this year, said Mike Wrape, a Nokia product manager. Wireless providers in other markets, such as Asia, are also expected to trial the phones, he said. The world's biggest handset maker traditionally hasn't fared well in the North American region. It mainly sells cell phones based on the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standard, which is wildly popular in Europe. But the Finnish company only began in mid-2002 to make phones using another standard called Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), a Qualcomm creation that enjoys success in North America and Korea. As a result, Nokia lags Motorola and Ericsson in U.S. CDMA sales. Nokia hopes to change that by creating phones that use CDMA2000 1xEV-DV, a member of the CDMA family of standards used by Verizon Wireless--a joint venture between Verizon Communications and Vodafone--and Sprint PCS, which combined have nearly 40 percent of all U.S. wireless customers. The two carriers currently use a less-sophisticated version of CDMA in their networks, with yet another impossible name: CDMA2000 1xRTT. EV-DV differs from RTT in one area--speed. Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless use RTT to increase the number of cell phone calls that they can simultaneously handle and to offer wireless Web speeds between 40kbps and 60kbps. EV-DV can host just as many calls, but it can zoom downloads at a much more user-friendly 3.1mbps, Wrape said. "EV-DV is the best evolution option for North American carriers," he said. Texas Instruments and Motorola back EV-DV, but representatives from the companies wouldn't comment on plans involving the standard. Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless representatives said they could not speculate on Nokia's EV-DV plans at this point. Jupiter Research analyst Joe Laszlo said Nokia's plans should be taken with a grain of salt because implementation of the technology is still far off. Carriers Verizon and Sprint PCS have only recently finished building their new network using 1xRTT. They will judge future network upgrades on how many customers use the new services. "The benefit from any of these future phone technologies, for anyone, is years away," Laszlo said.