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Stirring up developer opportunities

by bryan morgan
January 21, 2002

If you ask the average software developer what the most challenging part of his or her job is, the answer you'll probably hear – aside from the usual gripes about the Dilbertian "Pointy Haired Bosses" of the world – will center around the ever-changing landscape of tools, architectures and development paradigms. Just as college football manages to have a "Game Of The Century" every year or so, the years of the past decade are littered with the remains of proprietary architectures that promised to be the be-all, end-all solution for your requirements. If any of the following acronyms mean anything to you–DDE, OLE, RPC, DCE, DCOM, CORBA, RMI, DNA, J2SE, ActiveX, EJB, J2ME, XML, .NET, SOAP, WAP–then you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Keeping this in mind, with the relatively young wireless data industry beginning to coalesce around several primary standardized technologies, most notably SMS, WAP and Sun Mircrosystem Inc.'s Java 2 Micro Edition, it's understandable why many developers approached the 2000 release of Qualcomm's BREW, which stands for binary runtime environment for wireless, with weariness and a dash of skepticism. When reduced to a sound bite, BREW sounds similar in concept to Sun's Java platform, which already boasts a zealous developer following and is making inroads in the wireless world thanks to J2ME. But one year after its debut, BREW boasts a wireless industry who's who list among major companies currently developing for the platform. Here, we'll take a deeper look into the BREW platform with an eye toward what it means for the mobile application market.

BREWing A Platform

BREW is the name of an application execution platform from Qualcomm that is designed to run at the firmware level on a wide variety of phones and other wireless devices, such as personal digital assistants. In concept, the BREW runtime environment is similar to that of a Java Virtual Machine, except no attempts are made to execute binary code unmodified across a wide variety of hardware architectures as is the case with Java's lofty "Write Once, Run Anywhere" goal. Developers familiar with Java realize that with the WORA advantages come a number of limitations, including decreased performance, limited access to system resources and a lack of operating system or device-specific functionality.

The BREW Economy

The BREW SDK is downloadable for free from the BREW Web site, and the BREW runtime environment also is provided free of charge to device manufacturers. Qualcomm, of course, hopes that the end result of courting both ends of the food chain will be a host of BREW applications and devices on the market by 2003. Unlike Sun Microsystems' Java 2 Micro Edition, however, Qualcomm provides a framework for directly monetizing BREW applications without expensive marketing and sales campaigns. Certified BREW developers can offer applications for sale (and direct download to the end-user's device) via interested carriers. The BREW distribution system allows developers to track the success of their products, and Qualcomm handles revenue distribution from the carrier back to the developer. Before marketing your completed application to the carrier audience, however, you must become a certified BREW developer and your apps must receive the TRUE BREW certification. Click here for more information on the developer authentication process.

The BREW platform was designed from the ground up for mobile handheld environments and leverages the advantages of Qualcomm's mobile station modem application specific integrated circuit, or ASIC. If you're not familiar with the MSM ASIC, suffice it to say that next-generation services are getting very close. The MSM solution incorporates GPS capabilities, MP3 and MIDI multimedia software, Bluetooth 1.1 compliance and support for voice-over-Internet-protocol communications.

BREW carries the Java metaphor a step further by referring to programs running within their environment as "applets." After that point, however, all comparisons are off. BREW supports applets and shared library development in C or C++, and access to the native device is supported through OEM-developed drivers. While J2ME provides the bare essentials in terms of system services (through a very thin data storage layer, support for simple graphic manipulations and HTTP-only networking), BREW offers a more complete suite of services, including the following:

• Networking: TCP/UDP socket communications and HTTP support
• Graphics: 2D graphics API as well as modern event-driven UI and image display support
• Storage: File system access as well as record-based database query support
• Telephony: SMS messaging plus advanced telephony capabilities (including calling mechanism and caller ID)
• Multimedia: MP3 and MIDI playback

What about Java, you ask?

Because there is obvious symmetry between the goals of BREW and those of J2ME, it should come as no surprise to learn that BREW-based Java also is on the way. In November 2001, IBM and Qualcomm agreed to port IBM's J9 JVM to BREW, opening the door to an extremely large developer community just as BREW gets its own ball rolling. In this scenario, the BREW platform could be conceptualized as a layer beneath the JVM. Conversely, the JVM would run as an application within BREW with Java code running as applications within an application – thus the performance slowdown and platform insulation.

Keep in mind that the capabilities listed are a "bare minimum," if they could be called that. C/C++ application development offers the ability to drop in dynamic link libraries (DLLs) to access additional device capabilities such as address books, infrared syncing or third-party APIs. The BREW C/C++ SDK integrates with Microsoft's Visual C++ development tool and is freely downloadable from www.qualcomm.com/brew. (See sidebar for more information).

Not Running On Empty

All groundbreaking platforms take time to develop and grow roots, and BREW is no exception. First announced in 2000, the first BREW devices should begin to hit the market in 2002. Currently, Verizon Wireless is the largest U.S. carrier on board, and devices are on the way from Samsung and Kyocera, among others. The runtime quality of the platform combined with consumer demand ultimately will spell the success or failure of BREW. However, Qualcomm's initial steps toward developer program support are encouraging. Three developer program levels currently are offered, with the no-cost BREW developer level offering basic online services. The Select BREW developer level offers BREW co-branding, discounted testing and booth space at industry events, as well as marketing and public relations support. At a cost of $5,000, this opens the door to all but the smallest of development teams, keeping in mind that these same tiny bootstrapped developers have been known to turn the technology world on its ear from time to time. The Elite BREW developer level drops serious organizations into the business loop, offering up developer roundtable discussions, facilitated carrier introductions and premium public relations/marketing assistance. Continued outreach to interested developers along with aggressive online support in the form of code examples and tools will provide interested application developers with an excellent platform from which to launch their apps. Visit the Qualcomm Web site to download SDKs, register for developer programs or download additional technical documentation. [WIM]

Bryan Morgan is a regular contributor to Wireless Internet Magazine and a veteran software developer and industry observer. He can be reached at bryanmorgan@home.com.