One thing I’m doing in my new digs at Nokia is trying to get out and speak to as many user groups as possible about Nokia’s technologies for mobile development. Example: My “J2ME at Five” presentation to the Bay Area Mobility Forum earlier this month.
As a part of this activity, I’ve been scouring the Web for lists of pertinent user groups, with a main focus on Java User Groups (JUGs).
I thought it might be useful for others if I published my working list of JUGs here:
Please post a comment if you know of another JUG list or search page that might be of interest.
Nikkei Electronics Asia provides a decent overview of recent trends in subscribers and technologies in use in both China and South Korea.
The article discusses the current use and plans for both W-CDMA and CDMA2000 1xEV-DO in China and Korea as well as China’s proprietary TD-SCDMA. Read the entire article to get to the Korean bits (second half after the discussion of China).
It’s been noted before, but it’s worth repeating: China is the world’s largest mobile phone market by number of handsets, crossing 300 million subscribers in May 2004. And with more than a billion citizens, there’s still a lot of potential upside left in China.
Following up on an earlier post about the Groovy JSR being approved for JCP development: IBM developerWorks has posted a reasonable overview of Groovy entitled “Feeling Groovy“. Includes a number of examples you can try out yourself.
Nokia and Vodafone have proposed an update to JTWI for both CLDC and CDC based devices. Today they announced that this update, the Mobile Service Architecture, has been accepted by the JCP for development. Details from the press release: “Nokia and Vodafone to Lead Roadmap for Mobile Java Standards“.
I hinted at some of the possibilities of MSA in my BAMF presentation last week, especially as it pertains to JSR 232: Mobile Operational Management. Now that the JCP has accepted both of the MSA JSRs for development, you can read more details about the proposal and the sort of work the expert groups intend to take up. Get a feel for the highlights from Forum Nokia’s MSA overview, then delve into more detail via the JSR 248: Mobile Service Architecture for CLDC and JSR 249: Mobile Service Architecture for CDC proposals.
What does this all mean? Nokia and its partners are working hard to simplify end-to-end mobile application development and deployment into real devices and networks. To put this another way: Watch these JSRs closely if you want to build wireless applications for deployment to hundreds of millions of Java enabled handsets in the next couple of years.
Mike Rowehl and Russ Beattie report on the first meeting and plans for future get togethers.
Thanks again to everyone who attended, asked questions, and hung around after my talk for discussion. We had a very good turnout for a first meeting, I believe 27 people was the official count, and 18 turned in a short feedback form I brought in exchange for a snazzy “Mobile Geeks Rule” tshirt. I’m looking forward to attending future meetings when I get the chance and hope to see many of you there if you’re in the Bay Area.
In addition to my “J2ME at Five” presentation, other resources you might want to check out include Russ’ photos (post 1, 2, and 3) and video and Martin Little’s pictures.
Interested in BAMF? Propose a speaker or attend a future BAMF meeting via the BAMF site.
Nokia Developer’s Suite 2.2 for J2ME™ was released today.
NDS 2.2 supports Linux and Windows based J2ME development. New features include integration support for Eclipse 2.1.x and 3.0 as well as support for the open source Fedora Linux implementation.
More details including the installation requirements, release notes, and download link are available from Forum Nokia.
I’ve posted slides for my Bay Area Mobility Forum presentation “J2ME at Five: Where We’ve Been, and Where We’ll Be at Ten” . Click here to access the slides.
Abstract:
Java technology took the wireless world by storm when the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME) was first introduced for mobile devices, starting with the KVM at the JavaOne conference in June 1999.
Much has happened in the last five years. More than 120 million MIDP 1.0 devices are in consumers hands and MIDP 2.0 devices are now shipping in volume. Many interesting wireless Java applications are in daily use. J2ME technology-based wireless games continue to draw eyeballs and twitching thumbs the world over.
This session examines the history and technical merits of J2ME technologies that have allowed it to succeed over the past five years. We should have plenty of time after the presentation for discussion and extended Q&A where we’ll examine what needs to happen (technology, business, and otherwise) for the J2ME platform to be even more successful in its next five years.
Please use the Comments link at the bottom right of this blog entry to discuss the slides, ask questions, or make suggestions on improving the presentation.
The Series 60 Platform 2nd Edition Feature Pack 1: What’s New - Lead Features And APIs v1.0 document provides details on new capabilities coming to Series 60.
Capabilities to note in Feature Pack 1:
- EDGE support
- MPix cellcam capabilities
- Presence services and API
- Mobile Terminated Location Requests (MT-LR)
- Several new J2ME enhancements (additional MMA capabilities for instance) and minibrowser features
Learn more about these and other Feature Pack 1 capabilities by downloading the PDF from here.
As the document notes, the first Nokia Series 60 handsets based upon Feature Pack 1 include the Nokia 7610, 6620, and 6260.
3GNewsroom.com has posted a summary of CDMA adoption worldwide as of Q2 2004. It’s particularly interesting to see the uptake of CDMA2000 1xEV-DO and to note that the fastest growing region for CDMA by number of users is Asia-Pacific, not the Americas as many people might suspect given CDMA’s prominance in North America and the recent rapid growth of Vivo in Brazil.
More information on CDMA2000 technologies is available from the 3GPP2 site.
I’ve posted slides for my Nokia Developer Learning Series webcast “Tips and Techniques for Advanced Wireless Java Programming” . Click here to access the slides.
Abstract:
This session breaks down some of the common techniques to design and implement Java applications for wireless devices using the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME) Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC) and Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) APIs. It’s recommended for experienced J2ME programmers, with particular focus on MIDP 2.0 and targeting Series 60 devices.
Please use the Comments link at the bottom right of this blog entry to discuss the slides, ask questions, or make suggestions on improving the presentation.
I’m a big fan of the Olympics, can’t get enough coverage (of the US team or otherwise), but I always seem to get the craving for news when I’m away from my computer or a TV.
Have the same problem? Then check out this cool and useful service from Russ: The mOlympics mobile Olympic news aggregator.
Connect to mOlympics.com from your phone’s minibrowser or use the lite or WAP version if you’re having trouble with the regular feed.
From the “interesting collision of tech with politics” story line, Yahoo/AFP reports on how Filipinos are protesting government plans to tax texting.
Interested in learning more? Check out TxtPower’s site.
What amazes me most about all of this is that the President of the Philippines has included the proposed texting tax as part of eight tax measures “designed to help narrow the deficit”.
I had to read that twice, then pick up my jaw off the table.
Wow, texting in volumes that could narrow the deficit?!? We need more text mad mobile users in the US so we can narrow ours, too. 
I’ll be speaking at the Bay Area Mobility Forum’s first meeting on Saturday, August 21st.
I’m going to build on the technical foundation provided by my Nokia Developer Learning Series Advanced MIDP 2.0 webcast earlier in the week to deliver an updated version of my JavaOne BOF “J2ME at Five: Where We’ve Been, and Where We’ll Be at Ten”.
Abstract:
Java technology took the wireless world by storm when the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME) was first introduced for mobile devices, starting with the KVM at the JavaOne conference in June 1999.
Much has happened in the last five years. More than 120 million MIDP 1.0 devices are in consumers hands and MIDP 2.0 devices are now shipping in volume. Many interesting wireless Java applications are in daily use. J2ME technology-based wireless games continue to draw eyeballs and twitching thumbs the world over.
This session examines the history and technical merits of J2ME technologies that have allowed it to succeed over the past five years. We should have plenty of time after the presentation for discussion and extended Q&A where we’ll examine what needs to happen (technology, business, and otherwise) for the J2ME platform to be even more successful in its next five years.
If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, why not attend both events, webcast and BAMF meeting?
For those unable to attend my JavaOne “Tips and Techniques for Advanced Wireless Java Programming” technical session, I’m delivering an updated version as a webcast on August 17th as a part of the Nokia Developer Learning Series.
Abstract:
This session breaks down some of the common techniques to design and implement Java applications for wireless devices using the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME) Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC) and Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) APIs. It’s recommended for experienced J2ME programmers, with particular focus on MIDP 2.0 and targeting Series 60 devices.
Click here for details, then login and select “Apply Now” to register. Note that the webcast is free, but advance registration is required.
Not long after Nokia announced Q2 2004 earnings, BusinessWeek reported on Interbrand’s annual ranking of the “100 Top Global Brands”.
Both are worth reading. Remember as you read the latter, however, that brands often vary significantly in their following from one region to another, and regional trends in brand value are probably more useful predictions of future success than one averaged out number in isolation might be.
Case in point: Nokia’s brand value in Asia is #2 right behind Sony. Everyone agrees that China’s and the rest of Asia’s accelerating markets are the place to watch for sales, and brands are of central importance in driving these sales. If you had a choice to be the #8 brand worldwide but #2 in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines, or vice versa, what would you pick?
Want another indicator of this trend? Look at the top two handsets in CNETAsia’s Singapore based “Top 10 phones of July”. Yep, Nokia 6230 and Nokia 7610, with the 7200 and N-Gage QD also in the Top 10.
I guess #8 worldwide isn’t too bad, anyway: It leaves seven steps up available for improvement, right? And if the trends in Asia continue, Nokia’s got a pretty good chance of taking some of those steps.
[Standard disclaimer applies.]
As Yahoo/Reuters reported last month, AT&T Wireless began selling UMTS 3G/broadband wireless coverage in four US markets on July 20th.
Interested in learning more about AT&T’s plans for UMTS? Be sure to attend their free Wireless Mobility at Broadband Speed webcast on August 10th. The agenda promises to provide the latest information on their UMTS service:
- Broadband average data speeds of 220-320 Kbps with bursts up to 384 Kbps
- Wide area wireless coverage in the greater metro areas of Seattle, Detroit, Phoenix and the San Francisco Bay Area
- Support for bandwidth-intensive applications, including email with large attachments, Web-based and “chatty” client/server applications, corporate networks/Intranets and the Internet
- Sophisticated security features to help protect your data systems and files
- Comparison to GPRS, EDGE and Wi-Fi wireless data networks
- Latest UMTS devices and capabilities
Click here for more details and to register.
Nokia reported its Q2 2004 earnings and financials last month. Highlights included:
- Operating profit of 907 million euros
- The global mobile device market continued to grow during Q2 2004 reaching 148 million units (preliminary Nokia estimates)
- Nokia mobile device sales of 45.4 million units during Q2 2004
- Nokia estimated its market share for Q2 2004 at 31%
You can read the rest of the details yourself by clicking here.
