Java apps for mobiles are still big business

Nokia recently published some figures related to Java on mobiles. It’s amazing that something so simple can generate so much revenue. My feeling is that it’s still around games and very much at the head of the long tail (a few companies make the bulk of the money).

When thinking of mobile Java, keep in mind Trip Hawkins (of Electronic Arts
fame) and his Digital Chocolate company (which bought out Finland’s
Sumea a while back). Keep also in mind Electronic Arts’ recent purchase
of Jamdat. Consolidation, indeed.

 

Is there room for the little guy – yes! But, you need to be clever
in distribution and marketing to reach the numbers you need to make a
profit.

Here’s some things I clipped (verbatim) off of Forum Nokia (emphasis, mine). Also, below I’ve place a link to a page full of interesting stats.

– Nokia forecasts
that developer revenue from mobile Java applications on Nokia devices
will reach 340 million euros this year (2005).
– More than 180 operators are now deploying Java services.
708 million mobile Java devices had shipped as of June.
– 635 models of mobile Java devices are offered.
– 32 mobile device vendors use Java technology.
– More than 45,000 Java applications are on the market.
– Approximately 23 million mobile Java downloads have been performed each month this year.
– Nokia estimates that by the end of 2005 they will have cumulatively shipped more than 300 million devices based on platforms for app development (I suppose that encompasses Series 40, Series 60, and Series 80).
– More than 110 Nokia platform devices have been launched, of which more than 50 are Java MIDP 2.0 devices.

Link: Nokia – Wide Market Potential – Why Nokia? – Developers.

freegorifero on: The context of context in use.

Freegorifero always has great design ideas, especially around mobile. In this article, he notes that context is usually about some use case and not something in relation to how specific people would use something (for example, think of context of a ramp for handicap or someone with a stroller, instead of just the ramp).

Read this and more at the link below.

Link: f r e e g o r i f e r o | weblog.

It is about time that we start to relate to the interface not anymore as the layer between us and our devices, but between us and the world surrounding us, both the world of space/time and the world of relationships.

Strawband®

While in the heat of discussion with Scott Rafer about broadband, I flippantly called mobile connections ‘strawband’, as in ‘sucking bandwidth from a..’.

I’ve been using 3G for some time. I’ll believe it when it’s real.

Now, WiFi, on the other hand…

textually.org on: Silicon Valley goes mobile

Emily points out a San Francisco Chronicle article on the growth of mobile in Silicon Valley.

Link: textually.org: Silicon Valley goes mobile.

… The growth of the mobile data industry is revving up Silicon Valley. Analysts and industry observers said 70 to 100 startups have surfaced in the Bay Area in the past few years, far outpacing any other region in the United States."

Go west, young man. Indeed, that’s what it is looking like.

Joi Ito on: Will more moblog help?

Seems like Joi has realized that he has time to read and write posts only when he is away from his computer (where we all know all he does is play World of Warcraft).

In the post below, he sets up the whole case for reading and writing to the Web from a mobile (except the part of ‘idle time’, which rubs me the wrong way).

One comment, though: Brain-dead moblogging is already here. The real hard part is making the experience work.

Anyone listening at Six Apart, Yahoo, Google, or other places I have mentioned in the past many months?

Link: Joi Ito’s Web: Will more moblog help?.

Anyway, I’m going to have to think about how I can have more moblog… Also, maybe my site needs a redesign too.

Award-winning mobile multimedia project bridges art and engineering

I just wrote this article for Tekes, the Finnish national tech agency, about this really cool system, by this really cool guy, in a really cool program. Lots of mixing of physical spaces, mobile technology, and the Web.

Right up my alley.

Link: Award-winning mobile multimedia project bridges art and engineering.

Jürgen Schieble, doctoral candidate at Helsinki’s University of Art and Design Media Lab, wants to create “new types of enriching social experiences.” Combining his experience in mobile technologies with his music performance skills, Jürgen created MobiLenin, a participatory entertainment system. In recognition for his MobiLenin research, Jürgen, together with thesis advisor Timo Ojala, was awarded the Best Arts Paper at the ACM Multimedia 2005 conference in Singapore.

No by-line. 🙁