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Phones get smarter: do users care?

Cahners In-Stat Group’s wireless internet panel findings

by rebecca diercks
May/June 2001

Despite the recent market downturn, buzz about wireless Internet services is humming unabated. And although wireless subscribers still use their phones primarily for voice services, carriers continue to try to stimulate airtime and revenue by offering data services.

Until now, users primarily accessed these services through Wireless Application Protocol-based devices. WAP technology works with fairly “dumb” phones that have microbrowsers located on the handset. Most of the data processing takes place in the network, which makes wireless phones the ultimate thin client. But phones are getting smarter, and Sun’s Java 2 Micro Edition, or J2ME, is one technology that increases a phone’s IQ.

Cahners In-Stat Group (which has the same parent as Wireless Internet Magazine) recently surveyed its Wireless Internet Panel and found users not only are interested in having a smarter device, they are willing to pay more money for it and for applications that can be downloaded onto the handset.

Note that panelists tend to be early technology adopters and don’t mirror the market characteristics of consumers as a whole.

Just what is J2ME?

Sun offers three editions of its Java technology: Micro (J2ME), Standard (J2SE) and Enterprise (J2EE). Each edition offers developers application programming interfaces, tools and supplies for creating networked products and applications for the consumer and embedded markets. J2ME technology, Sun says, enables device manufacturers, service providers and content creators to gain a competitive advantage and capitalize on new revenue streams by rapidly and cost-effectively developing and deploying compelling new applications and services to their customers worldwide.

J2ME can be offered as a standalone on a handset, or on a browser-based handset. Sun has a relationship with Openwave, which plans to make J2ME a standard feature of its browser. Sun also is pursuing arrangements with handset manufacturers to license J2ME technology directly. This is important since some manufacturers, such as Nokia, prefer to use their own proprietary browser. Motorola developed the first J2ME-enabled phones in the United States for Nextel’s iDEN network; these phones currently are available. J2ME-enabled phones have been available for NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode network since January.

J2ME can be used on many devices connected to wireline or wireless networks. It has specific advantages for wireless handsets, which is important because handsets are subscribers’ primary wireless Internet access device. The technology:

• Allows users to download the same application on any J2ME-compliant device.
• Allows for interaction between the user and the application, which is faster than with a browser-based interface (e.g., WAP), and eases navigation inside the application.
• Allows for a rich color graphical user interface, or GUI, on mobile devices.
• Applications can run uninterrupted if a network connection is lost.
• Allows new applications or upgrades of existing applications to be downloaded to a handset or device on the fly, so users don’t have to visit their carrier’s store to reprogram a handset.

Survey says…

Of these benefits, 78 percent of users find the ability to download new applications or upgrade existing applications to be most beneficial.



The second most useful capability, according to 65 percent of users, is that applications will run uninterrupted if a network connection is lost. Fifty-eight percent of respondents also think it is useful that J2ME applications run locally on the device, speeding up interaction with the user and making navigation easier. Carriers and retailers should highlight these capabilities when selling J2ME-enabled phones.

One of the reasons early WAP versions received bad reviews was a poor interface that forces users to scroll through a “deck” of Internet pages. One would think J2ME’s GUI and color support would be very appealing, but only 34 percent of respondents found this attribute to be very important.

More than half of respondents said they would be willing to pay $25-$30 more for a handset that supports J2ME. But since these are early adopters, price is less important to them than for consumers overall.

Cahners In-Stat also found that users are most interested in the following applications on J2ME-enabled phones: mobile information services including news and stock updates (93 percent) and mobile communication services such as chat and e-mail (80 percent). About 70 percent of panelists said they would be willing to pay extra for new applications that could be downloaded onto a handset.

Users must beware of the technology’s drawbacks. More processing on the phone and color displays mean batteries drain faster. While panelists found functionality and ease of use to be the most important attributes when selecting a phone, battery life runs a close second. Users must evaluate the advantages of J2ME-enabled phones and decide how much battery life they are willing to sacrifice to gain this functionality.

Rebecca Diercks is director of wireless research at Cahners In-Stat Group.