Nextel first offer Java phone in North America

Nextel Communications joined Motorola and Sun Microsystems to announce that it will offer a wireless phone equipped with Java technology. Because hundreds of Java programmers already are developing applications for the mobile business customer, Nextel believes this is a move in the right direction.

“It creates vast potential for richer content on mobile phones,” said Tim Donahue, president and CEO of Nextel. “Java is another step forward and first for us…our expectation is that our customers will see a significant boost in productivity.”

Donahue believes that features such as expense-report programs, a calculator suite and other industry-specific applications will appeal to Nextel’s business customers. The carrier also will offer gaming applications.

The first phone the carrier will offering is the i85s Motorola phone, which will include Java 2 Micro Edition capabilities as well as voice-activated dialing, a date book, a phone book, a voice recorder to record and play back messages, menu customization, a larger screen and a subscriber identity module card.

“The phone also has ability to run Java applications that we think will be big hit with our customers,” Donahue said. “They will be able to download wide variety of apps from the Internet and store them”

Once Java-based applications are downloaded and installed, they are expected to run at 384 kbps depending on how many other applications already are loaded, according to Donahue.

“We think this complements existing service offerings,” he said. “It will augment the vertical and horizontal applications currently offered with WAP.”

Motorola and Sun teamed to develop a mobile information device protocol, which is the mobile handset dimension of Java, said Motorola CEO Chris Galvin.

“With Sun and Nextel, we are creating whole new ecosystem to encourage new apps for J2ME,” Galvin said.

Initially, Nextel plans to charge customers access fees for certain applications that will run directly on the phone. For applications that can be downloaded, there might be a $10 charge, while preloaded applications may be avail on the Web for free, Donahue said.

“It is early yet, but there will be monthly fees for some apps, downloading fees and, then eventually, revenue sharing similar to the Palm revenue model,” he said.

Nextel intends to roll out enhanced applications for its mobile office e-mail, messaging, fleet management and sales offerings.