Orange and T-Mobile Europe, which combined have 96 million subscribers, are the first carriers to commit to Sun's Java Verified programme, which certifies software programs to ensure that they'll run on different companies' mobile phones. Sun believes that other carriers will be influenced into joining Java Verified as a result.
The announcements are a sign of a "deepening commitment" by both carriers to using Java to power their download services, Sun executives said. Alternative technology is available from Qualcomm, a San Diego-based maker of chips for cellphones.
Sun created Java Verified alongside major handset makers Motorola, Nokia, Siemens and Sony Ericsson. On Thursday, Research in Motion also signed up. The set of tests are meant to ease problems developers have with writing a single Java program that can run on most Internet-enabled handsets.
Running on Java has been a tricky process, with different phones having different features, such as buttons, message handling, processing power, and sound and graphics capabilities. That, in turn, has slowed development of applications that cellphone service providers can sell to help recoup their losses as the price of phone calls continues to drop due to competition.
It's a continuing problem, though it's getting more and more minor, Sun executives said. "There's always some room for improvement," Alan Brenner, Sun's vice president of consumer and mobile systems, said during an interview on Thursday.
Talkback
If they're planning to do this for games they're pretty dumb. J2ME is not mature enough for developers to be able to write a single version of a game that runs on "all" phones. There are so many problems with different phones and their bad Java implementations, different screen sizes, file size limitations - do they really want high-end phones to only use what we can fit into the smallest, weakest phone?!
The phones don't even support the same audio formats!