All digital mobile handsets manufactured in five years time will be capable of running wireless Java applications, according to a new industry report from ARC Group 

December 7, 2001

Java will reinvigorate lacklustre handset sales around the world in the medium term and will ultimately prove to be an important step along the road to 3G. These are the findings of a new study entitled 'Wireless Java: Handset & Application Revenue Streams' (http://www.arcgroup.com/java) from industry analysts ARC Group.

ARC Group predicts that by 2003, 421 million handsets will be Java enabled. Such rapid growth will continue until Java becomes ubiquitous in 2006, with over 1 billion handsets incorporating the technology around the world.

ARC analyst, Steven Hartley says, The chief driver for such rapid adoption of Java in mobile devices is the broad industry support currently enjoyed by the technology. Every player along the value chain is embracing the technology and realises the potential of Java to aid the migration to 3G. However, to benefit from Java all members of the wireless Java value chain must appreciate the advantages it brings to the end user. For example, operators and content providers can only benefit from increased data traffic and download revenues if users are willing to pay for them. Handset manufacturers will need to ensure that their devices are easily personalised and support increased data usage through the addition of such features as larger, colour displays."

In Japan, almost 8 million NTT DoCoMo subscribers have already upgraded their handsets since January 2001 to take advantage of the new i-appli Java service. As Java handsets become available to the mass market, first in Europe and then around the world, such success will be replicated over the next two years and will provide a significant boost to currently stalling handset sales.

Java will provide a significant boost to mobile data service usage, with the most powerful applications leveraging the end to end security enabled by Java in the SIM card, handset and server. Entertainment applications utilising the enhanced graphical capabilities and over the air downloads of Java will prove to be the most popular globally until 2004, emphasising the phenomenal success of Java games among current wireless subscribers in Korea and Japan.

ARC Group forecasts 442 million Java entertainment users globally in 2004, but thereafter location based services will become the most widely used Java applications. Location based services are set to become an integral part of mobile Java services and utilise the offline functionality and interactivity of Java. The result will be over 1.1 billion mobile data users exploiting Java for location based services in 2006

'Wireless Java: Handset & Application Revenue Streams' looks at the rapid emergence of Java as a leading wireless application technology and assesses its potential across a number of key areas:

- Maximising Java revenue streams for operators, handset manufacturers and application developers - Implications of implementing wireless Java in the handset - Comprehensive market forecasts by technology and region to 2006 including Java handsets and Java application users by type - Leading Java handset vendors and service providers in the future - Case studies from current Java services in Asia and North America, including NTT DoCoMo and Nextel - Java deployment timelines and strategies by operators and service providers worldwide

For more information or to order your copy of this report, please visit http://www.arcgroup.com/java. Alternatively call + 44(0)1483 571589 or email info@arcgroup.com.


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