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Yankee Group reports it's time for data to take center stage
March 24, 2003
Feature-Rich, Color-Screen Handsets, Now Available for Less Than
$100, Will Drive 2.5G and 3G Data Network Revenue
The Yankee Group report, "Finding a Clear Path to Wireless Data
Revenue with Downloadable Applications," finds that while critical
pieces of the wireless data value chain continue to fall into place,
the market remains immature and fragmented. But wireless applications
and services delivery platforms for the consumer and enterprise
markets have gained significant momentum and are a powerful catalyst
for jump-starting the nascent wireless data industry.
"Two noteworthy platforms--Sun's J2ME and Qualccomm's BREW--have
emerged as the best options for distributing applications on the
next generation of mid-tier handsets. Operators that have committed
to delivering BREW and J2ME already cover about one third of global
subscribers," says John Jackson, Yankee Group Wireless/Mobile Technologies
analyst.
Wireless operators, handset OEMs, and developers are aligning themselves
with J2ME or BREW--and in limited cases (e.g., KDDI, China Unicom),
with both. In the GSM world, J2ME will emerge the winner. BREW will
leverage its strength among CDMA network operators. But a number
of factors will limit its market penetration, including broad global
delays or indefinite postponements of 3G network migration, and
operators' preference for a more open business model.
"Both BREW and J2ME offer excellent environments for advanced consumer
and enterprise-oriented applications on resource-constrained devices,"
Jackson says. "Despite the fragmented nature of J2ME implementations
and the limited deployment of BREW, implementations of both technologies
will continue, with J2ME far outpacing BREW. Both technologies will
continue to offer progressively robust environments for application
execution."
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3G Motorola A920
