3GSM Is Here
Ohboyohboyohboyohboy!
3GSM is here once again and all the news is starting to flow. New products, announcements and general take on the mobile industry as everyone hangs out in Cannes for a few days geeking out with the new tech and making deals. As you probably know, I'm not a link hound, but there's already some interesting news flowing.
The first is a news item in the European edition of Time: Nokia announces Communicator 9500. Check it out:
This week, chief executive Jorma Ollila unveils a prototype of the Communicator 9500, a device that ties more neatly and swiftly into corporate IT systems than any gadget Nokia has offered to date. Among the 9500's selling points is wi-fi circuitry that allows users to connect to the Internet in wireless hot spots and securely link up with business networks.
Rock on! Who do I kill to get my hands on that bad boy? WiFi and Symbian? Yeah, baby! It won't be ready until late in the year, but is definitely meant as a shot across Microsoft's bow and a direct challenge for the enterprise market. Very nice. Good to see the boys in Finland taking on the Borg head-on. But the story also goes on to say that Vodafone and Microsoft are working on a deal to sell Windows Powered Smartphones directly to corporations. If you haven't been reading this weblog for any time, let me just say "I told you so." Not about this deal specifically, but about the warnings that Microsoft is pulling an end-run around the traditional manufacturers and going straight to the carriers, with eyes specifically on the enterprise market.
Let me say it again. They're going to rule that market too, unless something is done to give the enterprise developers more tools, and now. Specifically, we need handsets with J2ME Personal Profile on them - and hopefully that's what the Communicator 9500 will have (though the article doesn't say anything about it, we can hope!).
Speaking of Java, Sun is pushing hard at this year's 3GSM touting their amazing numbers of mobile clients and back-end deals on the server side as well:
With 250 million Java technology-enabled wireless devices from 31 manufacturers deployed in over 75 carrier networks and a half-billion Java(tm) Card secure digital identity deployments in smart card and mobile phone environments, Java technology continues its growth as the number-one content platform for mobile data services. Java technologies provide content vendors and carriers a rich and secure mobile data services platform to realize increased average revenue per unit (ARPU) through compelling applications and services. The market has seen a recent explosion of innovative new wireless services and applications built using Java technologies for 2.5G and 3G mobile devices. Enterprises are also beginning to extend their infrastructure to mobile employees and customers to realize operational efficiency and increased revenue opportunities.
See that last sentence? Nice to know that Sun realizes the mobile enterprise market exists, not that they're doing anything about it.
Maybe it's just me and my constant beating the enterprise development drum, but there's been some noise how entertainment is going to be the main focus of this year's 3GSM - which I can see since I'm a HUGE believer in the power of mobile multimedia. However, the real battle is in the mobile enterprise. Maybe it's not as flashy as the entertainment stuff, but I bet it'll have an impact on the market long before consumers start watching vids on their phone regularly.
-Russ