Play tennis on your J2ME cell phone with Andre Agassi.

Pretty cool graphics on this one.

See:

J2ME Game

I wonder if Stefi Graf wanders out on the court with their son? :-)

One perfect use for J2ME CDC technology is to use it on small devices to link together data for security purposes.

A PDA or cell phone with J2ME CDC tech can use encryption to transfer data updates from many parts of an area picking up sensors and data readings.

See:

Security Item

The above book doesn't mention J2ME directly, but you can see where it can apply, espcially on the device side.

Security is a big market for J2ME CDC.

Motorola's new MPx J2ME cell phone can flip open to be more like a Blackberry with a full QWERTY keyboard so that you can thumb-type.

Or, it can flop open long-ways and be more like a clamshell phone.

See:

Motorola page

Specs

Looks like a fun phone to have if you want something more like a Blackberry, but then sometimes have it act more like a clamshell phone.

Note that it has both Microsoft Smartphone and J2ME in the specs above. Everyone sing: "Ebony and Ivory, live together in perfect haaaaarmony."

Here's an interesting match-up: Nokia and Vodafone are teaming up to make J2ME more consistent.

Hmmm... a cell manufacturer and a cell carrier teaming up.

See: News story

Makes for an interesting pairing!

This new Motorola cell phone in partnership with NTT DoCoMo will work on 3G networks for WCDMA and GSM!

Cool! You can take it almost everywhere in the world!

See: News story

No more having to rent a special cell phone when going to Japan.

One big problem that J2ME device designers have is finding an easier way to provision wireless apps (like games) to high-end wireless PDAs and small devices. One solution is use a content delivery server, like Sun's CDS.

But, another more organic way is to bring back Jini technology to give a simple framework for service discovery and download. See: http://www.jini.org/nonav/standards/davis/doc/specs/html/devicearch-spec.html#1000398

The Network Proxy approach with a Jini network (above) allows participation with a Jini network from any type of device (like a J2ME device) without needing the full requirements of full-blown Jini technology running on the resource-constrained device itself.

Jini technology can make a good comeback in the J2ME space if a company wants to run with it. It's simpler than OSGi and more flexible than CDS. The disadvantage is that more design work is needed upfront to create a good extendible framework.

It's the time of year for J2ME developers to think about what they want to sell for this year's Christmas season. This will be a big year for J2ME games since so many more new cell phones will be coming online with J2ME installed. Lots of J2ME phones will be stocking stuffers and those new users will be looking for games to download.

So, how can you cash in? Write a cool J2ME MIDlet game, or entertainment app and sell it on Handango as a software partner.

See: http://www.handango.com/Partner.jsp?siteId=1

The time is right to start developing your game or app for the Christmas rush. Get it out there on handango.com by October and you'll be ready to cash in.

Using a Java/J2ME cell phone for push-to-talk, walkie-talkie functionality is great for business use. Just think of your manager with his/her whole staff on his/her push-to-talk buddy-list.

"Hey, you slackers! Get to work! Fix some bugs!" :-)

See: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/ZDM/Nextel_i830_cellphone_pcmag_040820.html

I guess there are other more appropriate uses for push-to-talk technology. ;-)

Online Gaming in the U.S. will still take a few years to really catch on.

There are niche online gaming like EverQuest Online and Yahoo that have a following.

See: News story

But, the secret market are the gamers looking for puzzle games, card games, and non-violent games that allow people to play across the net.

Spiffy new J2ME cell phone from Motorola that can play 2.5 hours of MP3 song files.

See: http://www.mobile-review.com/review/motorola-e398-en.shtml

No need to have 3 items in your pockets: an iPod and a cell phone and a GameBoy. You can have it all in one.

As this article points out the top 3 uses for a J2ME technology-enabled phone with their service in the British Virgin Islands are:

• Ringtones
• Wallpaper
• Java Games

The top 2 out of 3 has nothing to do with Java on the cell phone itself.

See: News Story

If J2ME were used for playing the ringtones and displaying the wallpaper (maybe using J2ME 3D APIs or animation), then it would be better use of J2ME which is already on the phone.

This is the first time that I'm seeing positive reviews in the trade rags that actually say that a product from Sun can stand-up against Microsoft Windows.

And, I've see plenty of Sun's Windows competitive attempts in the past, like WABI and JavaStations. But this is the first time people actually don't think something from Sun totally sucks all that much.

See: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=29100064

Eh. It's a step in the right direction. :-)

Cool and clean GUIs like this app chooser on the Nokia series 60 phones make all the difference. It's good to see an intuitive app launcher since it welcomes the user to the phone and shows how to choose an app without complexity.

See: http://www.series60.com/

One finger (or thumb) use is vital on a phone. The 5-way cursor is going to be around for a long while. Java apps should follow this GUI design pattern.

UK is getting a cool person-to-person video-capable J2ME 3G phone from NEC.

See: http://www.physorg.com/news807.html

Yes, we'd like one over here in the States too, please! :-)

Okay, here's an example of a J2ME game that's not a shoot-em-up type games for cell phones.

Family Feud. Tie-ins with TV, nice and wholesome (no killing), breaks out of a stagnant genre, and is fun to boot!

See: http://www.mobliss.com/jsp/entertainment/familyfeud.jsp

Yeah, it's not everyone's idea of fun, but popular enough for breaking into a new revenue stream.