Google went out of their way in the announcement to note:

This acquisition will not change our commitment to run Android as an open platform. Motorola will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. We will run Motorola as a separate business. Many hardware partners have contributed to Android’s success and we look forward to continuing to work with all of them to deliver outstanding user experiences.

If you were Samsung, HTC, or another of Googerola’s Android hardware partners, would that make you feel any better about trusting Google’s Android intentions?  Sure there were the usual quotes trotted out from said partners, but don’t they sound a bit like each partner simply echoing back the official “line”?  To wit:

“We welcome today’s news, which demonstrates Google’s deep commitment to defending Android, its partners, and the ecosystem.”  – J.K. Shin, President, Samsung, Mobile Communications Division

“I welcome Google‘s commitment to defending Android and its partners.” – Bert Nordberg, President & CEO, Sony Ericsson

“We welcome the news of today‘s acquisition, which demonstrates that Google is deeply committed to defending Android, its partners, and the entire ecosystem.” – Peter Chou, CEO, HTC Corp.

Click here to read all the quotes provided by Google.

Most importantly for X.com community members, what will this purchase mean for Android app development?  It’s a bit early to say, although I would speculate that we’ll see skinless Moto devices as follow-ons to the Nexus series of phones coming at some point.  I have a guess what next year’s big Google I/O giveaway may be…

Click here to read the complete post on the PayPal X Developer Network including links to additional coverage and information on Google’s Motorola acquisition.

Java ME Application and Tool Repositories

Java ME Emulators and SDKs

Specifications:

• Mobile Information Device Profile
  (MIDP 2.0 Spec, 2.0 Reference Impl, and FAQ; 1.0 Spec and OTA Recommended Practice) — application runtime environment for wireless devices; requires CLDC
• Connected, Limited Device Configuration (CLDC 1.1 Spec, 1.1 Reference Impl, FAQ; 1.0 Spec) — base Java support for mobile phone, pager, PDA class devices
• Mobile Media API (MMA 1.0 Spec, 1.0 Reference Impl) — API for access and control of audio and video; targeted at CLDC and MIDP devices, but does not exclude support by CDC implementations
• Wireless Messaging API (WMA 2.0 Spec, 1.1 Spec, 1.1 Reference Impl) — APIs provides standard access to SMS and CBS messaging; WMA 2.0 will extend WMA to support multimedia messaging via MMS
• Java Technology for the Wireless Industry (JTWI 1.0 Spec, FAQ) — clarifies how MIDP, CLDC, WMA, and MMA technologies interoperate in real world end-to-end solution deployments
• Java APIs for Bluetooth (Java APIs for Bluetooth 1.0 Spec) — enables devices to integrate into Bluetooth environments
• J2ME Web Services (J2ME Web Services Specification 1.0 Spec) — optional package providing standard access to Web Services from Java ME

• Not find the Java ME specification you were looking for? Try searching through: All Java ME related Java Specification Requests (JSRs)
• Still not finding it? Try expanding your search to: All Java Specification Requests (JSRs)
• Related specifications: XHTML and HTML | HTTP 1.1 | TLS (based upon SSL) | HTTP over TLS | Compact HTML | Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) | Bluetooth | IEEE 802.11 standards

Books:

I’ve listed all of the Java ME development related books of which I am aware below, plus a few related wireless titles thrown in at the bottom for good measure. If you are considering buying one or more of these books, be sure you read the reader reviews on each page.

Additional books may be available by clicking here to search for Java ME titles in Amazon.com. You can also visit the kvm-interest archives for authors’ descriptions of their books and reviews from other Java ME developers.

• Riggs, Taivalsaari, and VandenBrink: Programming Wireless Devices with the Java(tm) 2 Platform, Micro Edition (The Java Series)
• John W. Muchow: Core J2ME Technology and MIDP (Sun Microsystems Press)
• Cynthia Block and Annette Wagner: MIDP 2.0 Style Guide for the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (The Java Series)
• Jonathan Knudsen: Wireless Java: Developing with J2ME, 2nd ed (APress)
• Kim Topley: J2ME in a Nutshell (O’Reilly)
• Michael Yuan: Enterprise J2ME: Developing Mobile Java Applications (Prentice Hall)
• Qusay Mahmoud: Learning Wireless Java (O’Reilly)
• David Fox and Roman Verhovsek: Micro Java(TM) Game Development (Addison-Wesley)
• James Keogh: J2ME: The Complete Reference (McGraw-Hill)
• Daryl Wilding-McBride: Java Development on PDAs: Building Applications for Pocket PC and Palm Devices (Addison-Wesley)
• Yu Feng and Jun Zhu: Wireless Java Programming with J2ME (Sams)
• Michael Morrison: Teach Yourself Wireless Java with J2ME in 21 Days (Sams)
• Eric Giguere: Java 2 Micro Edition: Professional Developers Guide (Wiley)
• Enrique Ortiz and Eric Giguere: Mobile Information Device Profile for Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME): Professional Developer’s Guide (Wiley)
• Bill Ray et al: Professional Java Mobile Programming (Wrox)
• Michael Kroll and Stefan Haustein: Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) Application Development (Sams)
• Imtiyaz Haque and Brian O’Connor: J2ME Enterprise Development (John Wiley & Sons)
• Dan Harkey et al: Wireless Java Programming for Enterprise Applications: Mobile Devices Go Corporate (John Wiley & Sons)
• James White and David Hemphill: Java 2 Micro Edition (Manning)
• Vartan Piroumian: Wireless J2ME Platform Programming (Prentice Hall)
• Mikko Kontio: Professional Mobile Java with J2ME (IT Press)
• Paul Tremblett: Instant Wireless Java with J2ME (McGraw Hill)
• Dreamtech Software Team: Wireless Programming with J2ME: Cracking the Code (Hungry Minds)
• Hinkmond Wong: Developing Jini(TM) Applications Using J2ME(TM) Technology (Addison-Wesley)
• Mark Beaulieu: Wireless Internet Applications and Architecture (Addison Wesley)
• Martyn Mallick: Mobile and Wireless Design Essentials (John Wiley & Sons)
• Matthew S. Gast: 802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide (O’Reilly)
• Bob O’Hara and Al Petrick: The IEEE 802.11 Handbook: A Designer’s Companion

Related Sites:

Java Platform, Micro Edition homepage
KVM-interest mailing list archives (all things Java ME discussed here)
Bill Day’s blog

Discussions: Java.net Mobile & Embedded Community |Nokia Developer Boards | Keitai-L list | Siemens list

FAQs: Sun Mobility FAQs, Glossary | Wireless Telecom Glossary

Portals: Sun Mobility site | Forum Nokia | WirelessDevNet

Devices: Nokia device specs | RIM BlackBerry devices

US Carrier Developer Sites: AT&T | Sprint

802.11 Networks and WUGs: Community WiFi Cafes | Wi-Fi Hotspot List | Wi-Fi Zone Finder | NodeDB.com | 802.11b Community Network List

Bill Day’s technical presentations (Java ME and other topics)
Spotless research VM
Zev Blut’s Basic guide to developing iAppli programs (Java for imode)
O’Reilly Network 802.11 articles
Google Mobile

Events: java.net Event Calendar | JavaOne

News: Engadget | Wireless Week

Last July I wondered in writing about Q2 2006 NOK and MOT numbers:

Is mobile handset design and marketing now a two horse race?

As reported in this Chicago Tribune story on Q4 2006 results, the answer appears to be a big “Yes”. According to the Strategy Analytics numbers quoted by the Tribune:

1. Nokia increased Q4 share to 35.2% worldwide, versus 34.1% Q4 2005
2. Motorola rose to 21.9%, from 18.2% in the final quarter of 2005
3. Samsung lost share, down to 10.7% from 11.1% in the same quarter last year
4. Sony Ericsson is up to 8.7% from 6.6% last year
5. Closing out the top five, LG Electronics sank to 5.7% share from 6.6% in Q4 2005

Although Sony Ericsson increased its share a bit year-over-year, it appears to be more at the expense of Samsung and LG than of Nokia or Motorola. And even with S.E.’s rise, Nokia and Motorola still managed to pull slightly further ahead of the pack.

I wonder how things will stack up at this time next year, after iPhone has had a few months on the market? For Steve to hit his target of 1% share by 2008, Apple wouldn’t need to take very much from the major players.

Getting to the next order of magnitude, however, will be quite a bit more challenging. 10% share would position Apple in the top three mobile makers, assuming they grab share more at the expense of Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and LG than Nokia or Motorola. And as you can see from this quarter’s numbers, 10% iPhone market share won’t be easy to come by. But given the key bit of my quote from mid-2006, that this is a race based upon “design and marketing”, I’d say Apple has a better chance than anyone else at getting there from here. Assuming they listen to feedback and understand the shape of the mobile market, of course.

The love child of Nokia’s cozying up to Eclipse and its purchase of Metrowerks’ Symbian tools and team has been born:

Nokia has introduced a new family of Symbian C++ development tools christened “Carbide.c++”.

It interesting to note that Carbide.c++ tools support not only Nokia’s Series 60 and Series 80, but also UIQ favored by Sony Ericsson in devices such as its new P990 smartphone. Time and hands-on experience with Carbide will tell how useful Nokia’s tools really are for targeting SE devices!

Details on each of the three members of the Carbide.c++ family (Express, Developer, and Professional) are available from Forum Nokia’s Carbide homepage. Specifics on the free Express product are available from the Carbide.c++ Express datasheet.

I’ve been reading the deluge of reports and press releases from the 3GSM World Congress 2005 which wrapped up yesterday in Cannes. Expanding upon last year’s limited Sun and Intel & Nokia 3GSM posts, I thought this year I’d summarize the major wireless developments via links to various 3GSM bits from around the Web.

Starting with the official site and then jumping around per my whimsy:

• Official 3GSM news page (aka press release central)
• CommsDesign’s links to important 3GSM news
• Everybody made cellpod announcements: Nokia and Microsoft (Russ isn’t surprised), Motorola and Apple (well, sort of), Sony Ericsson, even Sendo (plus read Business 2.0′s take here)
• Motorola is working with Skype to build VoIP-over-WiFi capable mobile phones (thanks for listening, Moto!)
• Nokia’s 3GSM key themes (is it just me or are these a bit, well, obvious?) plus newly announced 6101, 6102, 6680 (WCDMA/GSM, Series 60 2nd Ed FP2, dual camera including 1.3MPix on back, but where’s the WiFi?), and 6681 cellcams
• Moto’s 3GSM 2005 site including link to the Moto 3GSM flip book (PDF) which provides a good overview of their handsets and other wireless products
• GSM Association Awards (best enterprise app, best mobile handset, etc.)
• Info on the Pocket 3GSM mobile service (you knew they had to have this, right?)
• Google search for 3GSM Congress

Please let me know what I’ve missed via the Comments link.

Sony Ericsson president Katsumi Ihara says that Sony has ceded the low-end camera market to mobile phones.

OK, so it is a done deal. Look out digicams, here come the cellcams! It’ll be very interesting to see who capitalizes on this in 2004.

Following up on my earlier entries on Motorola Linux smartphones and recent device announcements from various manufacturers:

Motorola has announced a new music-oriented Linux mobile phone, the E680. It has all the bells and whistles including J2ME gaming support, 3D stereo speakers, MP3 and MPEG4 video playback, a VGA quality digicam, and the ability to support up to 1GB SD memory cards.

Oh, and unlike previous Linux-powered Moto phones, this one looks to be available outside of Asia, too.

Among the stats in this article on Sony Ericsson’s new phones, more information on the rise of cellcams, including plans from several of the leading cell phone vendors for megapixel+ cellcams in 2004.

How well will these new SE devices compete with upcoming Moto phones and Nokia’s plans? The multi-billion dollar the question…