Nokia’s top-secret developer mission

by peggy albright
February 4, 2002

In a quiet effort to spur Java applications for its forthcoming phones, the No. 1 phone manufacturer invited a small group of software developers to enter its R&D buildings for a confidential workshop.

Irving, Texas—Late last month, a select group of software developers signed non-disclosure agreements and convened in a classroom in Nokia’s top-secret research and development building here to learn how to create Java applications for Nokia’s forthcoming wireless phones.

The exclusive two-day meeting brought together developers from mega and supercarriers, including Vodafone and Cingular Wireless, and people from top Internet service providers, such as America Online Inc., and data security companies, such as Symantec. But it also included developers from lesser known, small entrepreneurial software development companies–the types of companies that have helped drive innovation in the Internet with Java applications and whose participation in the mobile Internet business ecosystem is considered essential to its success.

“The center of my world is your applications,” Gerard Bruen, global sales manager of Forum Nokia, told the developers. And what did he hear from them? An earful. They have difficulty getting access to executives at wireless operating companies who hold the key to everyone’s business. Small companies can barely afford the sales and promotion and business negotiation costs required when working with operators.
Killer applications are often custom applications for small to medium-sized enterprises, not mass-market applications, and they are harder to sell to carriers. Developers had an important question, too: How can Nokia help them?

Bruen responded that Nokia has developer programs and a business partner matchmaking service in place to ease the process for developers and operators alike. By bringing together developers to meet with Nokia’s own business development leaders, the company hopes to build momentum in Java applications development and create solutions that can be marketed for Nokia mobile phones in the near term.

That, they did. It was the first time anyone outside Nokia got to see its first Java-enabled handset aimed for mass-market distribution, although the manufacturer would not say exactly when the phone will come out. It also was the first time Nokia has brought developers in under nondisclosure agreements to begin creating applications for a handset it has not yet introduced.

The event did not, on the other hand, teach the developers new programming skills–most already were familiar with Java 2 Micro Edition, the skinny-down version of the open standard that will be used to write applications for low-power, small-screen devices. Many said they already are working with Motorola, which was first to market with Java phones for Nextel Communications Inc.’s iDEN network. Some are working with Qualcomm to develop applications that run on that company’s proprietary platform, the binary runtime environment for wireless applications, called BREW for short. Others likely have worked with Ericsson, another leading vendor that has similar developer programs.

What the event gave each developer, however, was an opportunity to work closely with some of the company’s top business developers, who will now work with the software specialists to promote the adoption of their applications by service operators. It all was done in the name of speeding delivery of their Java-based applications to market and helping create a market for these new Java-powered devices.

Participants not only got a sneak preview of the initial Nokia Java handset, but also a detailed technical look at its specifications and the application programming interfaces that will be used in that first Java implementation, as well as access to a software developers kit and phone emulator.

They also received a general roadmap of subsequent handset features and user-interface concepts they can use to conceptualize applications for later product lines. They learned how Nokia will work with them and its many other software developers, via its Forum Nokia and associated programs, to bring operators and developers together.

That Nokia is opening up its development process in this manner says as much about the company today as it does about the industry, which is exploring new methods of doing business as the mobile Internet comes to fruition. As Nokia characterizes it, the wireless world no longer has the luxury of selling just voice, which the manufacturer views as a single application with a very long but profitable life cycle. The emerging mobile Internet world, it believes, will change constantly and will have a series of “service tornadoes” that bring a succession of applications and services to market.

The company says it is determined to sell 50 million Java-enabled handsets this year and 100 million by the end of 2003. Nokia business executives at the workshop reiterated that they intend to hit those numbers. Compare that with the current market. Right now, 18 manufacturers are shipping Java-enabled handsets and more than 14 million Java handsets have been shipped in the world to date, says Erik Chu, group manager for industry marketing in Sun Microsystems Inc.’s Software Systems Group.

If Nokia maintains its market position and mobile devices do eclipse wired ones as Internet-access devices, the company believes it could become the biggest single supplier of Java devices on the planet. “The crowd [at this event] is looking for the biggest manufacturer,” Chu says. He and others from his company were at the Nokia J2ME workshop to show support for the manufacturer. Sun also brought several developers to the conference.

While the workshop itself focused on driving applications for specific Nokia devices, the overall need to make the mobile Internet succeed in a business environment that is larger than the company itself was a pervasive theme. “It’s terribly important for Nokia globally to make sure this market comes about,” says Lee Wright, director of strategic partnerships for the Americas.

He and his colleagues emphasize that this is something every company must achieve, not just Nokia, although because of its sheer size, Nokia acknowledges perhaps a greater obligation and responsibility to help bring this about.

In the next few months, Wireless Internet Magazine will follow some of the developers who attended the event and profile their progress. [WIM]