Sun sees automotive side to Java

29 Jun 2004 08:46

Cars may be the next platform sporting Sun's software

Having secured a niche for Java in cellphones, Sun is setting its sights and server ambitions on a new client device: cars.

Sun's success in the server market hasn't helped it elbow Microsoft aside in personal computers. Microsoft's Windows, and not Sun's Java, is used as the programming foundation of choice in desktops and notebooks. But PCs aren't the only "client" device that people use to tap into network services.

"Clients are back," Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's chief operating officer, told JavaOne attendees on Monday. "They're touch points between a university and hospital and patients, between drivers and automobile companies, between subscribers and handsets. The evolution of that market (is) beginning to bubble back."

Java has become the leading platform for games on cellphones, and Sun is looking to repeat that success in in-car computers.

Schwartz told the JavaOne crowd that in a meeting with an automobile company he had been discussing the $3.5bn market for ring-tone downloads for cellphones when a younger executive suggested: "We could make downloadable horn tones to an automobile." After the initial burst of laughter at the meeting died down, Schwartz commented: "Do you know a 17-year-old who would pay $5 (£2.74) for a new horn tone on his dashboard? I do."

At the conference, Sun and executives from Siemens VDO Automotive showed off a new BMW car equipped with a Java-powered in-dash computer that controlled navigation, air conditioning, entertainment and other functions. The technology will be used in models in BMW's 100, 300, 500 and 600 series, and likely in future 700-series cars as well, said Roland Bush, the chief executive of the infotainment unit of Siemens VDO Automotive.

Redmonk analyst James Governor sees Java as a good technology to spread into new client devices. "Java has shown itself very amenable to becoming applicable to niches," he said.

Java is software that lets a single program -- written in the Java programming language -- run on several computers. There are classes of Java for devices such as cell phones, servers, desktop computers and digital ID cards.

Schwartz said at the show that Wall Street and industry analysts had missed the potential of cellphones for games and other services beyond voice calls. To date, 350m Java-powered handsets have been shipped, and games for those phones add up to $3bn market, he said. "The gaming market is purely and simply about Java," Schwartz added.

Sun hopes to make money off Java by spurring new network services that are underpinned by the powerful servers, storage systems, software and services the company sells, Schwartz said. The prime market: the same mobile communications service providers that benefited from Java in cellphones.

"There's an interesting phenomenon with those carriers. What we noticed is, the infrastructure built for that handset isn't limited to serving handsets. They could serve a set-top box. They could serve an automobile. They could serve a parking meter," Schwartz said.

Vodafone, one of the largest mobile service operators, has a group looking into the automotive computer market, also often known as "telematics", said Juan Dewar, a senior director of product marketing in Sun's Consumer and Mobile Systems Group. Vodafone is one of the largest buyers of Sun's back-end server gear, Dewar said.

Sun has taken to emulating cellphone companies, which often give free or inexpensive hardware -- handsets -- to customers who commit to a subscription for products or services. The company began offering this week an Opteron workstation with Solaris and developer tools for $1,495 a year, with a three-year commitment. In addition, the only way to get Sun's Java Studio Creator programming tools is to sign up for a $99-per-year Sun developer community subscription.

Schwartz believes even the automobile industry could follow suit. One automaker's chief financial officer told Schwartz his company could give a car away for free, if it could charge a customer $220 per month for a subscription.

That's not too far from some current service fees, said John Loiacono, Sun's executive vice president for software. General Motors' OnStar, which provides roadside assistance, navigation help and other networked services to drivers, costs $20 to $80 per month, he said. He also noted that many people pay $80 or $90 per month for television services.

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