| Java is...the new black |
| Monday, 08 March 2004 | |
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Flytxt's Co-founder and resident Guru, Pamir Gelenbe, looks to the future to predict which word will dominate mobile agendas across media, entertainment, retail sectors and beyond in 2004. The word he sees is "Java". Java hit the headlines in 2003 and proved big business in mobile gaming, but will Java be limited to games in 2004? Gelenbe believes this year will see Java move beyond this usage and into the untested markets of news, chat and gambling. What signs are there in the market of appetite for these applications? With the penetration of J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition aka mobile JAVA) capable phones reaching a critical mass, we're already seeing more companies looking at building mobile applications using Java technology. Two examples of such applications are the FT and CNN's Java subscription based portals, which provide the latest news and data from the stock markets. The lure of Java is its flexibility and its widespread support among major handset manufacturers including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Siemens, Samsung and NEC. Java applications can also be distributed across a variety of handsets with little tweaking. From a technology standpoint, Java technology offers many advantages: "Push wake-up" - a feature that lets the company trigger the application on the user's phone remotely (e.g. a stock broker could trigger a JAVA trading application when a stock-price reaches a certain level) To break this down further Java is: It should be noted, while we're comparing Java to WAP, that Java is not the only technology that lets you create rich interfaces on mobile phones. One alternative to Java consists of building a Symbian application (i.e. developing directly for the phone's operating system). Gelenbe points out that the key benefit of developing in Symbian is greater access to the phone's functionalities such as address book, voice functionality, multimedia, messaging, etc. The key downside, however, is that the application size tends to be larger and it only works for Symbian (i.e. high-end) phones, severely limiting its mass market potential. The first high profile example of such an application in the UK is the O2 Active portal Symbian application built by Surfkitchen for O2. It is an alternative to the WAP-based portal and it offers a much smoother user experience. Looking ahead to the next 12 months, Gelenbe groups the types of java applications that will be emerging in the following four categories: communications, information provisioning, entertainment and transactions. Mobile Java technology can be an effective mobile footprint for media owners, an information portal for public transport companies, a shop window for retailers, and a clean, effective way to transact with customers for financial services companies. Other applications of java may include branded information services. For example, a drug company like Novartis might send out hay fever alerts for their product Allereze, or a gossip magazine like Sneak might build a branded gossip application. 2004 is most certainly the year for Java. The branding benefits that Java offers are incredibly compelling: nothing beats having your brand as an icon on the phone! The key development Gelenbe sees as happening in 2004 is media and entertainment companies building information or ring tone sites. By the end of the year he believes most media companies will have a Java application. A major factor behind the rise of Java in 2004 is the Euro 2004 football championship in Portugal. When it comes to mobile content development, you can't beat football and sex as drivers. © Copyright Flytxt Ltd 2006. Unauthorized use of any content constitutes a material breach. |
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