Mobile Industry Collaborates to Advance Java Platform Micro Edition, Deliver New Benefits to Java Developers and Further Reduce Fragmentation

ACCESS, France Telecom/Orange, Motorola, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Sun Microsystems and Vodafone Work to Provide Developers With New Resources for Delivering High-Quality Java Applications to Market Faster and at Reduced Costs
JavaOne Conference 2009

Members of the mobile industry working within the Unified Test Initiative (UTI), today announced new Java Verified™ program capabilities and the launch of JATAF (Java™ Application Terminal Alignment Framework), a new open source project where members of the global Java™ Platform Micro Edition (Java ME) ecosystem are collaborating to streamline testing of applications across a wide range of mobile phones and handheld devices. These initiatives provide developers with enhanced testing features to make it easier and faster to deliver a variety of Java-based mobile devices and applications to businesses and consumers worldwide. Today’s release opens the door to new revenue opportunities across the entire Java eco-system and demonstrates how the mobile industry is working together to address fragmentation issues.

“At the 2008 JavaOne(SM) conference executives from Orange, Sony Ericsson and Sun made a commitment to address Java fragmentation, which is due in part to Java’s rapid growth to over 2.6 billion Java-enabled phones in the marketplace today,” said Martin Wrigley, chair of UTI, director of technology, Orange Partner Program. “All parties agreed that the Java mobile industry must collaborate in order to maximize ROI opportunities as the ecosystem evolves to focus on an enhanced user experience. Today’s deliverables show what can be achieved through collaboration.”

New Java Verified Program Capabilities – Expanded Capabilities for Application Testing

As a program managed by the UTI, the Java Verified program has met the industry needs for testing and signing for five years, supporting the design, usability and sales of high quality mobile Java applications. Enhancements released today provide developers with new tools for ensuring quality throughout the entire testing process and the ability to test applications across a greater number of devices at a significant cost savings compared to previous testing models. Highlights of the new Java Verified program capabilities include:

Publisher ID – The Publisher ID is a tamper-proof digital certificate that identifies the origin of the application and authenticates the identity of the person or company providing it. This identifier builds accountability, trust and quality assurance across the submission, signing and verification process.

R&D Signing – R&D signing allows developers to test their applications and insure that they will behave properly and as expected on a “live” device during the development process. This can allow for faster implementations because developers can correct functionality issues prior to ending the testing process.

Streamlined Test Procedures – New UTC v 3.0 testing criteria has been streamlined so that developers can continue to test applications, against a wide variety of devices, but in a more cost effective manner. Developers will find these new options valuable because repeat testing on multiple devices is now handled via one full test per platform, and reduced testing on the other devices in the platform. This makes the testing process faster, easier and less expensive.

“We are pleased to see the Java Verified program addressing important fragmentation issues by delivering enhanced application testing resources to the Java ME developer community,” said Brent Melson, Director of Technology Solutions and Development at Intertek-NSTL. “As the authorized Java Verified test house we have applied the new UTC v 3.0 procedures to testing applications on multiple devices. UTC v 3.0 can greatly reduce the total cost of getting a Java application to market. These significant savings provide Java ME developers with new options for driving more business and consumer applications into the global marketplace.”

In conjunction with today’s news, UTI has launched a new Java Verified program website with new content, features and resources. All of the enhancements announced today are detailed on the site at www.javaverified.com. The site also links to a new Java Verified program testing submission portal that has been redesigned for greater usability.

JATAF – An Open, Collaborative Java ME Device Testing Community

JATAF, the Java Application Terminal Alignment Framework, is a new collaborative project involving companies and developers working to maintain Java as a truly ubiquitous platform for application deployment and committed to addressing fragmentation. Founding members are France Telecom/Orange, Sony Ericsson, Sun Microsystems, and Vodafone, with each making open source contributions to the project. The goal of JATAF is to provide a more consistent platform for development by allowing developers, operators and OEMs to contribute to a series of open source tests that they can perform and require to ensure device implementations function consistently and problem-free across a wide range of deployment scenarios.

JATAF will provide tests, and a framework to run those tests, under the philosophy that the more developers, operators and OEMs contribute to the testing effort, the faster de-fragmentation of the underlying platforms can happen, leading to larger device deployment bases. Initial tests have been contributed, under the Eclipse Public License, by Sony Ericsson and France Telecom/Orange. The tests are built to run on the Java Device Test Framework, contributed by Sun, and available to the community under the GPLv2 license. All Java ME developers are encouraged to participate in the JATAF community at no cost, with more information available at www.jataf.com.

“Due in large part to fragmentation, we ship hundreds of thousands of SKUs to market every year to ensure broad reach of our consumers,” explained Jason Loia, COO of Digital Chocolate, one of the industry’s most highly-rated publishers of games for the Java ME platform. “JATAF has the potential to greatly reduce this deployment overhead for publishers and we welcome its arrival.”

Wide Industry Support for Java Verified Program and JATAF

Today’s announcements are proof points that demonstrate how the mobile industry is coming together to ensure Java ME developers have the resources they need to more quickly deliver high-quality applications to more devices. This lays the groundwork for creating a significant and scalable market opportunity across the entire Java ecosystem. The following organizations are among the many offering support for today’s news.

ACCESS – “As global provider of advanced software to the mobile and converged markets, ACCESS is an active proponent of industry standards that ensure consistent performance and promote high quality, compelling user experiences,” said Kiyo Oishi, executive officer of ACCESS CO., LTD. and CEO of ACCESS Systems Americas. “Java Verified and JATAF play an important role in creating standards that will encourage the growth and success of the mobile ecosystem.”

Motorola – “As a longstanding advocate of reducing fragmentation and empowering the developer community, Motorola is excited to see these efforts with Java,” said Christy Wyatt, VP of Software Platforms, Applications and Ecosystem, Motorola. “We are pleased to see industry collaboration that aims to provide developers with a faster and easier way to reach consumers worldwide.”

Sony Ericsson – “Beyond fortifying our own longstanding commitment to Java and sharing our test development costs into what is today’s leading runtime environment for mobile devices, lies the greater good of the collaborative effort of bringing Java ME into blossom of its full potential”, said Rikko Sakaguchi, Corporate Vice President and Head of Creation and Development Group of Sony Ericsson. “We are therefore delighted to announce we very soon indeed will contribute many hundreds of tests to JATAF, thus significantly contributing to JATAF’s goals and success.”

Sun – “Over the last 12 years the Java Platform has done more than any other technology to address the fragmentation inherent across the Consumer Electronics and IT industries,” said Jeet Kaul, Senior Vice President for Java Technology at Sun. “Our contribution of the Java Device Test Framework reflects our commitment to JATAF’s important work and we look forward to ensuring that both JATAF and the Java Verified Program make Java ME an even better platform to develop and invest in.”

Vodafone – “We believe that JATAF is addressing real issues with Java platform fragmentation,” says Guido Arnone, Director of Terminal Products and Technology with Vodafone. “An open-source testing project provides the opportunity to leverage a large developer community, resulting in reduced fragmentation of implementations. The more the community contributes the faster all parties see the benefits and cost efficiencies.”

About the Java Verified Program and JATAF at 2009 JavaOne Conference
Tuesday, June 2

8:30 pm – 9:20 pm, Esplanade 303 – Birds of a Feather Session (BOF-3990)

“Signing Java ™ Platform, Micro Edition Applications and the Renewed Java Verified Program”

Speaker: Risto Helin, Forum Nokia – UTI Board Representative

Wednesday, June 3 – JavaOne “Mobility Day”

8:30am – 9:30am
Mobility Keynote

10:00am
Pavilion Floor Opens

12:05pm
General Sessions End for Lunch

12:15 – 4:30pm
Java Verified Program -WIP Mobile JAM

Moscone Center – Pavilion Floor

Java Verified Program – WIP Mobile Jam Session Descriptions:
“Performance Matters. Join Java Verified to Accelerate Development of High Quality Mobile Applications.”
Find out how to save up to 50% off your mobile testing costs
Get advice and share opinions with industry experts on mobile app development, testing and go-to-market opportunities.
Network and get insider tips from UTI member companies including: ACCESS, Motorola, Nokia, Orange, Sony Ericsson, Sun Microsystems and Vodafone Group.
GRAND PRIZE DRAW – Enter to win a Skip Barber Racing School Gift Certificate

12:15 – 1:00 pm – Java Utopia Center / Pavilion Floor
SPEED TRIALS QUIZ: Show us your smarts (and win cool t-shirts). Come to the Java Utopia Booth and participate in our “Stump the Experts” quiz

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm – “Lunchbox” / Pavilion Floor
HIGH OCTANE APPS “UN-PANEL” SESSION: Make your voice heard at our ”High Octane Apps” un-panel where representatives from the UTI , including operators, handset vendors and test house representatives, pose and answer developer questions regarding latest market trends. Let us know what YOU need to develop, test and sell Java ME apps in accelerated time!

1:00 – 2:00 pm and 3:30 – 4:00 pm – Java Utopia Center / Pavilion Floor
PIT STOPS: Ask us anything! Drop-in and meet, one-on-one, with UTI member company representatives / industry experts who can help “fast track” your business.

Thursday, June 4

10:50 am-11:50 am North Hall 124. – Panel Session (PAN 7083)
“JATAF – What Is It. How To Use It”
Panelists: Kay Glahn; Vodafone Group R&D, Jason Loia; Digital Chocolate, Brent Melson; Intertek, NSTL, Daniel Rosendahl; Sony Ericsson, Yael Wagner; Sun Microsystems, Martin Wrigley; Orange SA

Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Java, Java Verified and JavaOne are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the US and other countries.
Contacts

For the Java Verified program and JATAF
Russ DeVeau, 908-251-1549 (Mobile/Text)
russdeveau {at} comcast(.)net