All,
More on PersonalJava: (geeze, I wonder when the .35 will be ready).
GLOBAL LEADERS IN CONSUMER TELEPHONY ADOPT PERSONALJAVA
Alcatel, Nortel and Samsung select PersonalJavatm as the
Standard Platform for Their Webphones
Palo Alto, CA -- August 26, 1997 - Sun Microsystems, Inc. announced today that Alcatel, Nortel (Northern Telecom) and Samsung have endorsed PersonalJava and intend to incorporate it into the webphones they manufacture. A webphone is a full-featured telephone that allows users to send email, access the Internet and browse the web. PersonalJava, the Javatm platform for consumer devices, enables webphones to connect to and download content from any network, including the Internet.
This announcement represents a key step forward in making PersonalJava the application development platform of choice for web-connectable telephones. Alcatel, Nortel and Samsung combined represent more than an estimated $110 billion in the telecommunications and consumer technology industry annually. The three vendors together reach more than seven million customers worldwide with their current service-ready screenphones. Each company plans to announce shipment of a Java-enabled webphone by the middle of 1998.
"I am pleased to see the industry adopting PersonalJava as the platform that brings the power of network computing to webphones," said Scott McNealy, president, chairman and CEO of Sun Microsystems Inc. "If you can dream of an application running on a webphone, build it in Java."
PersonalJava on a webphone provides consumers easy access to the Internet and specialized network services. PersonalJava allows Java applications to be downloaded automatically to the end-user, for example, a Java applet that displays the user's stock portfolio or the weather conditions of a travel destination.
"With new on-line products such as our Alcatel Internet phones based on the quality and performance of PersonalJava technology, our company has proven its ability to turn its vision of the future into reality," said Patrick Liot, vice president, communication terminals for the business division of Alcatel. "Thanks to our experience in the field of advanced terminals, and especially with the success of the Minitel in France, we are confident that Alcatel will be a major player in this new emerging market."
"PersonalJava is exactly what we need for this new class of web appliance, the webphone," said Al Delorenzi, vice president, technology and business development, Nortel. "It is allowing Nortel, together with our European partner Matra Communication, to build a cost-effective webphone product line while maintaining compatibility with the Java-enabled enterprise desktop."
"We welcome PersonalJava as a core essential that will nurture and enrich this era of Intelligence Telephony. The telephone has been a basic, inseparable necessity of communication. However, living in an age of information and rapid change, such conventional mechanisms are no longer sufficient in supporting, and most of all, satisfying the needs of today's consumers. For instance, email, chatting, video conferencing, and Internet telephony are some of the major industry trends, which we intend to embrace in all aspects of our business," said Mr.HeeJoon Park, President of Telecommunications for Samung. "Thus, we believe our Web Phone product, the Web Video Phone with Java will be the ideal embodiment of making such a need a reality."
Alcatel, Nortel and Samsung displayed models of their PersonalJava-enabled webphones and demonstrated examples of their easy to use interfaces at Java Internet Business Expo in New York today.
PersonalJava Broadens Java Market
PersonalJava opens the doors for Java developers to create applets and applications that can run on any common consumer device that is connected to a network, including any Java-enabled webphone, set-top box, PDA or mobile phone.
"The webphone is just the beginning of Java's penetration into the homes of consumers worldwide," added McNealy. "This marks the beginning of a broader market for Java developers; watch for Java-enabled devices to conquer the marketplace."
PersonalJava is designed specifically for network-connectable products people use in homes, while mobile or in the office. These devices have displays but might not include a keyboard or a mouse.
The PersonalJava draft specification was posted at java.sun.com on July 2. Since that time, there have been more than 10,000 downloads of the specification. After the public review period ends later this summer, the specification will be finalized and reference implementations will be built.
Sun will provide a style guide for developing PersonalJava applications on the Internet at java.sun.com.
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