Opinionated comments on mobile phone industry news

Russell responds to comments he got for his previous note about Java vs browser access to mobile services, and provides a news service as an example of where Java ME is beneficial.

A similar example is news feed aggregation from many sources, which I have implemented via WAP and HTML at wap.abiro.com / Mobile News. This works reasonably well and without any form of maintenance over time, and is actually more data efficient than if the phone would download complete news feeds from the source sites to check for news updates, as I heavily optimise the feed data on the server before generating WML and HTML. One obvious benefit with a Java ME implementation would be alerts: via audio signals or by speaking the news entries when they arrive. Via Java ME you could easily hide the fact that such alerts were received via SMS or polled via HTTP at given intervals. Spoken alerts would be practical e.g. when you are driving or generally being occupied with something else. Another benefit is presentation: a Java ME application is much more responsive than a browser, even if the data rate is high, and dynamic graphics adds to the experience.

News is though not an ideal example as the information as such is rather passive. If offline reading is needed that could also be achieved via a browser with offline page support. Yet, most phones don't support that.

It's when access to local phone functionality is needed (storage as well as features like location, camera, audio etc), and the application as such is very interactive, e.g. showing live graphs, video, etc that the user can interact with, that Java ME really shines. I mentioned interactive stock charts in my previous comment, but e.g. map panning in Google Maps would not have worked as well via browser access etc.

There's another distinction possible here, considering almost all Java ME applications are stand-alone games without any service connection whatsoever. I'm getting a bit off track here, but almost all of those games are commercial, hence generating revenue to especially the distributors, while most mobile services are free of charge with only secondary revenue streams through advertising (which many services don't even make use of) and possible after market services (that most consumers will ignore). I would argue that the values to investers and possible buyers are instead a big user base, a compelling service and a strong brand rather than hard cash. That sounds dangerous and naive to me, but were e.g. Skype and Pyra Labs acquired because of their bottom line? No way.

A potential large future business (at least when talking real hard cash bottom line) is to mobilize both blue and white collar work force, as almost all have mobile phones anyway. I'm not just talking access to intranet web pages and documents, but logistics, economy, reporting, surveillance etc systems from any mobile phone. Instead of using expensive and bulky smartphones that few have it's more relevant to utilize users' existing Java and browser enabled phones. Whether WAP, HTML, SMS, MMS, Java ME etc is used is less relevant. The key thing is to create a good user experience and a higher productivity than without it (by saving time, by adding lacking functionality etc). The awareness of what's possible and what might add value is very low at most companies, which is both a blessing and a curse for entrepreneurs. Consider that most companies haven't even enabled access to corporate email from mobile phones.

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