Opinionated comments on mobile phone industry news
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All entries are written by Anders Borg, CEO and Consultant of Abiro, that has a long experience in strategic planning, developing embedded and Java software, usability aspects, and the mobile phone industry in general. You can also read the latest Mobile News entries on your phone via wap.abiro.com, and we provide many News Feeds from popular news services. For advertising and contribution queries, please use the feedback form. News feed (local) FeedBurner Feed
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Saturday, July 22, 2006
Mobile Opportunity on mobile platforms
In this context mobile platforms should be interpreted as mobile application platforms for downloaded / after-market applications.
The note called "We need a new mobile platform. Sort of." from June (I didn't spot it until now) is very good, but also very long and there are lots of comments, so I can't even summarize it. It's not just about mobile platforms, but the whole "biosphere" for mobile applications, including delivery, billing, security etc.
Instead I found a comment that struck my fancy, in part because I'm a Java ME / J2ME freak. On a more serious note though, as Java ME is available in such a huge amount of phones, it's the best choice on that merit alone. If it's also the most practical to use it's of course even better.
Quote: It is absolutely right that every user will have their own personal killer apps - but note that all your example Palm apps could be done on any MIDP1 device. There is no need to (if you'll excuse the term) fantasise about a ubiquitous smartphone platform (S60, Windows) or other dev environment (Flash) to achieve them - of course some apps need advanced functionality, but I found it very interesting that none of your examples do, and I think most other 'killer' apps will be relatively quick simple affairs too.
I agree with this. Many complain that they can't access certain features through Java for certain applications. My answer to that is (lateral thinking in a way): Make some other applications then. The playing field is open.
But also a few words against it (actually many more, but this kind of sums it up):
Quote: I think Java fragmentation issues and the baggage that involves considerably detracts from it effectiveness / possibilities. Where is does seem to work well is where the Java implementation is standardised across a platform (e.g. Sony Ericsson, S40 S60) etc. Even then its not perfect.
I've reported about this before in Java ME, still not Write Once, Run Anywhere, so the problem is wellknown, but it can be overcome.
Only DoCoMo with its i-mode and Qualcomm with its BREW Delivery System seem to have solved the whole solution well to my knowledge. Considering applications is a big success in e.g. Korea too, I'm sure they have very good systems there.
As BDS is a closed system that only operators can use and it's owned by an industry insider with lots of patents on CDMA and WCDMA etc, it's not the ideal solution, the question then is: Why hasn't Sun taken this opportunity to launch a complete delivery system including a business model for operators and other application resellers to handle all this, and why do operators and other resellers take such a big cut of the revenue for selling applications? I think DoCoMo still takes 9%. Handango normally takes 50%!
Sun has a big opportunity to be in control in terms of the needed systems, and Sun could also serve as an advocate for the business model and good reseller behavior. Considering servers and server software are the core elements of Sun's business they should be very interested in solving this and hence increase revenue. Sun could learn from DoCoMo and Qualcomm.
As Sun has already won the mobile application platform race, let's see if Sun sees the light when it comes to delivery solutions, and if so what they'll do.
Mobile Opportunity: We need a new mobile platform. Sort of.
The note called "We need a new mobile platform. Sort of." from June (I didn't spot it until now) is very good, but also very long and there are lots of comments, so I can't even summarize it. It's not just about mobile platforms, but the whole "biosphere" for mobile applications, including delivery, billing, security etc.
Instead I found a comment that struck my fancy, in part because I'm a Java ME / J2ME freak. On a more serious note though, as Java ME is available in such a huge amount of phones, it's the best choice on that merit alone. If it's also the most practical to use it's of course even better.
Quote: It is absolutely right that every user will have their own personal killer apps - but note that all your example Palm apps could be done on any MIDP1 device. There is no need to (if you'll excuse the term) fantasise about a ubiquitous smartphone platform (S60, Windows) or other dev environment (Flash) to achieve them - of course some apps need advanced functionality, but I found it very interesting that none of your examples do, and I think most other 'killer' apps will be relatively quick simple affairs too.
I agree with this. Many complain that they can't access certain features through Java for certain applications. My answer to that is (lateral thinking in a way): Make some other applications then. The playing field is open.
But also a few words against it (actually many more, but this kind of sums it up):
Quote: I think Java fragmentation issues and the baggage that involves considerably detracts from it effectiveness / possibilities. Where is does seem to work well is where the Java implementation is standardised across a platform (e.g. Sony Ericsson, S40 S60) etc. Even then its not perfect.
I've reported about this before in Java ME, still not Write Once, Run Anywhere, so the problem is wellknown, but it can be overcome.
Only DoCoMo with its i-mode and Qualcomm with its BREW Delivery System seem to have solved the whole solution well to my knowledge. Considering applications is a big success in e.g. Korea too, I'm sure they have very good systems there.
As BDS is a closed system that only operators can use and it's owned by an industry insider with lots of patents on CDMA and WCDMA etc, it's not the ideal solution, the question then is: Why hasn't Sun taken this opportunity to launch a complete delivery system including a business model for operators and other application resellers to handle all this, and why do operators and other resellers take such a big cut of the revenue for selling applications? I think DoCoMo still takes 9%. Handango normally takes 50%!
Sun has a big opportunity to be in control in terms of the needed systems, and Sun could also serve as an advocate for the business model and good reseller behavior. Considering servers and server software are the core elements of Sun's business they should be very interested in solving this and hence increase revenue. Sun could learn from DoCoMo and Qualcomm.
As Sun has already won the mobile application platform race, let's see if Sun sees the light when it comes to delivery solutions, and if so what they'll do.
Mobile Opportunity: We need a new mobile platform. Sort of.
