2006 JavaOne Conference - JavaOne Mobility General Session with Alan Brenner

Opening day of JavaOne always seems to go by faster than any other day of the event. On day one, time seems compressed; it takes a day to get into that "zone" that athletes talk about where time appears to slow down while they operate at game speed. The "zone" where attendees can navigate the crowds, attend their sessions, grab lunch and keep going late into the evening always eludes me on day one. In this state, I arrived in the Esplande section of Moscone to find it filled to capacity. Those in the "zone" had already arrived at the Mobility General Session to be given by Alan Brenner, Senior VP of the Client Systems Group at Sun.

The presentation ran flawlessly, with a pace that kept the audience engaged. The demonstrations showed just how far Mobility has progressed in the last few years. It was great to see real demonstrations, not slide-ware or pre-beta hardware and software duct-taped into execution. All of the demos involved real hardware, real software and real content, all items that any developer can access today.

Alan outlined 3 themes for the presentation: "where we are now", "what's next" and "fuelling new markets."

Where We Are Now

Entertainment was a key element in the first wave of Mobility. Primarily taking the form of bundled and downloadable games, it served two purposes in the market:

1. it engaged users, creating demand and illustrating potential and

2. it pushed the hardware and software limits of the devices, resulting in a broader, richer software platform, and leading edge hardware devices.

The first demo, "Groove Mobile Music Service," highlighted entertainment. The service includes the basic "purchase and download" scenario, but also includes track preview and browse use cases, providing an experience equivalent to that provided by online, desktop-based services. Groove Mobile is the mobile music store for carriers in all geos.

Sports fans and developers alike closely followed Oke Okaro, Senior Director of Product Development at Mobile ESPN for another demo. The Mobile ESPN service, which delivers sports news, was launched in February 2006. The most compelling aspect of the application was the UI, which showed that considerable effort had gone into making it both visually appealing and efficient. The interface consists of a "sideline" running vertically on the left side of the display, a bottom "ticker" for score updates, and a main display area. The main area is capable of displaying video as well as text. The video model is "download and play" rather than streaming video, trading costly network time for on-device storage. This was a great example of an information service done right.

The Bango.com demo was example of the breadth of the Mobility ecosystem. Their tagline, "Mobile billing made easy, Mobile content made accessible" aptly describes their business. For developers, who are not business oriented, Bango can be a sales, billing and payment agent, allowing developers to do what they do best.

What's Next

The clear message for "What's Next" is Mobile Service Architecture (MSA) as defined in JSR 248. MSA defines a rich platform for the next generation of devices. It includes security and commerce for safe and secure transactions. Graphic capabilities cover not only the currently-deployed Mobile Media API's, but also 3D graphics and Scalable Vector Graphics, enabling more visually appealing applications. Communications are greatly enhanced with the inclusion of SIP (JSR 180) and Bluetooth (JSR 82) into a group that already includes the widely deployed SMS and MMS standards. Social networks are enhanced when Location (JSR 179) and Personal Information Management (PIM) as defined in JSR 75 are considered. Finally, application connectivity, both the familiar Web Services and Content Handler, are part of MSA.

This may read like a laundry list of JSR's to some developers; others will see it as enabling services that are not possible today. Consider one scenario: navigating your way to a social event in unfamiliar territory. The event and attendees are referenced in your Personal Information (JSR 75). You are reminded when to leave and where you're going. The event location and your current location are available (JSR 179), which uses a web service (JSR 172) to plot your course (JSR 226). Should you take a cab or a bus to shorten the trip? A little short of cash for either? No problem, pay using your mobile device (JSR 177, JSR 229). During the trip you can remain in contact (JSR 120, JSR 205) for last-minute changes in location.

MSA, by defining a common platform, will enable the next wave of services, just as JTWI and MIDP 2.0 created the first wave. Expect the tools, specifically NetBeans and the Sun Java Wireless Toolkit, to support MSA. And of course, the device and application testing will be there to assure conformance and protect everyone's investment.

Beyond MSA

The final part of the Mobility General Session focused on what comes after MSA, and where new opportunities exist. The wave after MSA will include better graphics capabilities. These graphics, as defined in the Advanced Graphical User Interface (JSR 209), bring layout capabilities, rich components, and better 2D graphics. These three items, combined with the arrival of CDC-based devices, will bring parts of the Java SE platform to mobile devices.

Gaming, a key part of the first wave, will improve with the roll-out of Open GL ES (JSR 239). Future devices will feature hardware accelerated graphics and 3D capabilities beyond the current capabilties defined in MSA. Online gaming will extend into the Mobility community.

Web 2.0 and Java Technology being defined in JSR 290 will create a unique integration between markup and Java. Java will be used to load, render and manipulate markup, and at the same time, Java can be embedded in the markup. The result: better and more diverse UI elements adaptive to the both the user and the device.

The final demo, perhaps the most technically impressive, showed four applications running concurrently on the SavaJe device. Each application highlighted a different mobility technology: audio, 2D graphics, 3D graphics, and a MIDlet.

Sprint's Director of Developer Programs, Jared Peterson, offered some final thoughts on the Mobility marketplace. Jared told the crowd that most of Sprint's approximately 40 million subscribers have a Java-enabled phone. Sprint sees traditional revenue streams (voice) as somewhat flat as the market matures. In contrast, data services are clearly the new growth area. With a large percentage of their subscribers already Java-enabled, Sprint is positioning to feed the need for these data services.

So what can you do? As Jonathan Schwartz has said, "innovation happens elsewhere." The Mobility General Session showed just how large that "elsewhere" has become. There are tremendous opportunities in all areas of Mobility. It's no longer just application development; graphic design, content development and business are now integral parts of the ecosystem.