The Gaijin Coder

Long Awaited Java ME MIDP Features Surface

Java ME MIDP 3.0 shipped recently with a number of features developers have long been waiting for.  MIDlets can now run concurrently, in the background, can start when the phone boots, can run as the idle screen, or screensaver and can talk to each other thanks to the new inter-MIDlet communication mechanism, share libraries and respond to a bunch of phone events. In addition to this there have been numerous graphically related improvements to to improve the look of applications, especially on larger screens.

iPhone dominates foreign handsets in Japan, thats all.

Recent market research has concluded that the iPhone has secured 46% of the Japanese smartphone market, ousting Windows Mobile as the market dominator.  This news was reported world wide as Apple dominating the Japanese smartphone market which was subsequently re-reported to the point where it read that Apple is dominating the Japanese mobile market, which is just plain wrong.

The smartphone market in Japan consists of roughly 6 million devices of which Apple commands 46%.  The mobile phone market in Japan consists of 110 million devices of which Apple commands roughly 2.7%

Japan has never really seen the need for a smartphone category for its mobile devices as all mobiles released in the past decade have been smart.  There just hasn’t been a phone released in Japan in recent memory that can not browse the internet, send email or run native applications.

The smartphone concept was introduced to Japan by foreign manufacturers including Nokia, Bluberry, Microsoft and Samsung.  As smartphones of the past were rather exceptionally clunky in design, performance and features compared to Japanese produced handsets, Japanese manufacturers avoided the smartphone label lest their devices be seen in the same light as the inferior overseas devices.

Therefore the smartphone market in Japan today is essentially the non-Japanese handset market and while Apple is dominating that market (and so it should considering the poor competition) they actually hold roughly 2.7% of the entire mobile market in Japan.

While 2.7% market share isn’t a lot, it is more than Nokia was able to establish before withdrawing from the Japanese market in 2008.

16GB iPhone 3GS Now Free in Japan

Japanese carrier Softbank announced on Tuesday that it will give a 16GB iPhone 3GS to anyone willing to sign-up for two years. A 32GB iPhone 3GS is priced at about $6 per month.

The announcement is part of “iPhone for all of Softbank,” a new campaign to launch Friday, Dec. 4. The offer of a free 16GB iPhone 3GS may be a response to a scarcity of iPhone 3G handsets in Japan. Softbank may become one of the first carriers to stop offering the iPhone 3G, reports said Tuesday.

Softbank to Release Android Phone in Japan

Softbank, the Japanese carrier partnered with Apple to bring the iPhone to Japan, announced yesterday that they will be releasing an Android powered phone to the Japanese market in the spring of 2010.  Details are sketchy but the device is reported to have a 3.7 inch touch screen and be powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU.  This will be the second Android powered phone to be released in Japan after NTT DoCoMo released their HT-03A Android handset mid 2009.

Java ME SDK 3.0 - Early Access for Mac OS

Mac developers have often asked when Java ME SDK 3.0 will be available for their operating system. The answer from Sun has always been that they were working on it.  Today it finally happened, Sun have released Java ME SDK 3.0 Early Access for Mac OS. You can download the SDK here.

Highlights of  Java ME SDK 3.0 Early Access, Mac OS:

• Bringing functionality of the famous Wireless Toolkit to Mac developers
• Unique architecture enabling work with the real device from ME SDK 3.0 now running on Mac OS. Communication with the devices, application deployment and even On-Device debugging over the Wi-Fi.
• Support for the latest CLDC Hot Spot VM and Java Micro Edition APIs
• High End Tools for optimizations: Profiler, Network Monitor, Support for Debugging, Wireless Messaging Console and many more
• Introducing JavaFX 1.2.1 Mobile emulator running on Mac OS
• Integrated Device Search Database for easy reference
• Powerful Autoupdate for additional plug-ins and product updates
• Development Environment based on NetBeans Platform

English support for DoCoMo and Softbank Developers

As DoCoMo move into markets outside of Japan  including India, Taiwan, and possibly even the USA one would assume the number of non Japanese developers to be on the rise.

As a non Japanese developer working in Japan I constantly refer to Japanese API specifications and communicate with my peers in Japanese when developing applications for the latest i-mode and Softbank terminals.  But for non Japanese speaking developers the lack of current documentation and support from the carriers in languages other than Japanese has been a major deterrent.

Even as an experienced Japanese speaking developer there are times when I like to throw around ideas with other DoJa developers in my native language.  Unfortunately finding quality, experienced, English speaking DoJa engineers willing to share their knowledge had been almost impossible.  With past failures of i-mode to gain market share in Europe the number of English speaking developers has been on the decline.

Despite this a handful of English speaking DoJa and Softbank developers within, and outside of, Japan have been supporting each other, sharing experiences, and offering advice, via the Mobile Developer Lab group and companion website.

The Mobile Developer Lab was launched in 2006 as a forum where developers working on applications for Japanese mobile devices, and the Japanese market could meet, exchange ideas, ask questions and provide support to other developers.  The group is small, the traffic low, but core members have extensive commercial experience developing mobile applications for the Japanese market and are keen to share their knowledge with others.

If you’re an experienced mobile developer, or a newcomer to the field, interested in developing applications for Japanese handsets that utilize Docomo’s DoJa or Softbank’s JSCL API, as the Japanese carriers make moves into foreign markets, then I’d highly recommend becoming an active member of the Mobile Developer Lab group.

NTT Docomo to launch website for confirming stolen handsets

Mobile phone operator NTT Docomo announced on Tuesday it will launch a website on Thursday to enable consumers to confirm whether used handsets are stolen phones or not before they purchase them.

Consumers will be able to make the confirmation when they enter the production numbers of handsets on the website, NTT Docomo said.

The company decided to launch the service as a large number of stolen handsets are now available on Internet auction sites and at retailers handling used gadgets.

Softbank Mobile Corp. is also planning to start such a website during the current business year through next March.

Mobile games on the increase at the Tokyo Game Show

Of the 758 new game titles on display at the Tokyo Game Show, 168 were for cellphone platforms, that’s more than twice as many as in the previous year.

Apple’s iPhone is already starting to eat into sales of handhelds and home consoles from the big players as game playing goes mobile.  Many in the industry believe Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft need to explore radical changes to their businesses, including an emphasis on software rather than hardware and a better way for users to download games.

‘As a platform, the cellphone has the biggest potential, because everybody owns one,’ said Kazumi Kitaue, chief executive at Konami Digital Entertainment. A family with three children might buy just one Wii or PlayStation to share, but those children will probably have cellphones of their own and download and play games, Mr. Kitaue said.”

Read the full article here.

NTT DoCoMo in the American Market - A Positive Spin

News broke this week that NTT DoCoMo are considering plans to enter the U.S. market as a MVNO as early as 2010, and finally bring its i-mode service to America.  MVNO’s are Mobile Virtual Network Operators that sell their own service plans and handsets but piggyback on another carriers network.  It seems that DoCoMo is contemplating leasing network capacity from either T-Mobile USA or AT&T.

Many analysts consider DoCoMo’s move to be too little too late and that DoCoMo should have moved in on the American market during the days when their i-mode mobile internet service was leagues ahead of any user experience available in the U.S.  While I agree that due to the timing of this late entry into the American market DoCoMo will face an uphill battle, I also believe that DoCoMo is still in a position to make an impact on the U.S. market.

Obviously there are countless decisions and business strategies DoCoMo will consider and follow to ensure successful entry into the American market, but from a mobile application developers point of view here are a few things I believe DoCoMo should consider:

Launch an AppStore

International users have become used to the idea of a central location from which to browse and download applications for their devices, be it the Android Market or Apple AppStore .  i-mode will not survive in the international market if users are left to scour the internet for their applications.  In addition to this an AppStore will attract developers to DoCoMo’s platform as it will finally give J2ME developers (who make the switch to DoJa) an outlet through which to conveniently sell their applications.

In the west users increasingly expect applications to come from an AppStore, without one DoCoMo will be doomed to failure.

Leverage existing applications

Over the last 10 years Japanese developers have been busy developing countless applications for the Japanese market and literally hundreds of thousands of games, applications and utilities already exist for the platform.  Unfortunately the overriding majority of the are in Japanese.

DoCoMo needs to encourage, even partner with, application developers such as G-Mode, and GameLoft etc. to begin localizing their back catalogs of DoJa software for the American market.  On launch day DoCoMo could literally have thousands of exceptionally quality applications ready for download by eager users via their AppStore.

Attract developers

Millions of Java developers out there are eager to begin mobile development. They’ve seen what can be done on mobile platforms such as the iPhone and want part of the action, but the lack of an established, unfragmented platform is deterring most from entering the mobile Java space.

Developing i-mode applications is by no means a difficult task for an experienced J2ME developer, and even a relatively new Java developer can be up and running developing i-applis relatively quickly.  DoCoMo must stress to developers that DoJa applications, once developed, will run on any DoCoMo handset, guaranteed, unlike the situation with J2ME where due to device fragmentation a single application has to be ported to numerous handsets.

I believe that coupling write once run anywhere applications with an AppStore, that allows event he smallest of developers to earn revenue from their applications, will  attract developers to the platform as there currently exists no AppStore for J2ME developers who are eager to sell their applications.

DoCoMo must, and surely can, entice developers to its platform by stressing that it truly is write once run anywhere and by providing them with a platform from which they can easily sell their products.

Refine handset designs

Unfortunately American users don’t see small, clam-shell devices without qwerty keyboards and big touch sensitive screens as smart phones.  The term smart phone never took off in Japan due to the fact that since the launch of i-mode there have been no dumb phones, they’re all smart.

To overcome this image problem DoCoMo may find it beneficial to develop a physical design more suited to the market they’re entering. 

Alternatively DoCoMo may choose not to be drawn into competition under the smart phone banner which would mean being constantly compared to iPhone and Android devices.  They may decide to compete on the regular cellphone level but offer a product on that level with all the capabilities a user would expect from a smart phone.


In conclusion, DoCoMo have been providing an exceptional mobile internet experience to Japanese users for a decade.  They have an established platform of hardware, software, development tools, API’s and documentation and a track record of delivering quality, highly advanced, handsets to the hands of users.  While the timing of their entry into the US market comes much later than what would be considered optimal I believe that through hard work and adaptation to the American marketplace there exists a market for DoCoMo’s handsets in the U.S.

Then again, I’m an optimist, and always will be.

If your keen to take a look at DoJa Development you can download the DoJa SDK and documentation via the links under DoCoMo to the right of this article.

Japanese cell phone culture unlike any other

Cell phones in Japan have evolved as a virtual extra appendage that people can’t walk, ride or relax without, as they constantly peer into their screens, send and receive messages, play video games, watch TV, and sometimes even communicate verbally.

Like many other things Japanese, the nation’s cell phone culture has evolved differently than in other parts of the world, with special features and services so unique that the market has been likened to Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands.

Read the full article here.

NEC, Hitachi and Casio to merge mobile phone businesses?

There are reports today that NEC is in talks with Hitachi and Casio to take a controlling stake in Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications Co. effectively merging the three companies mobile phone businesses into one.

If the merger eventuates, the three companies would see greatly reduced development and procurement costs at a time when mobile phone sales are dropping sharply and development costs are rising. The resulting entity would become Japan’s second largest mobile phone manufacturer with 20% of the Japanese mobile phone market.  Currently Sharp is the largest mobile phone manufacturer in Japan with a 23% market share.

Each of the companies have issued statements reporting that no decision has been made so far, but none have denied the reports.

Device Fragmentation Comes to Japan

With the rise of Android, Windows Mobile and the iPhone in Japan the market is becoming much more fragmented and difficult to navigate for mobile application developers.

Unlike overseas markets where a single J2ME application would normally require modification to run on different handsets, even within one manufacturer’s range of products, a well crafted DoJa application will run unmodified on all DoCoMo handsets that implement the DoJa specification.  In addition to this it has always been a relatively simple and inexpensive task to port a DoJa application to a J2ME (JSCL) application capable of running on Softbank handsets, and vice versa.  As a result a carefully written Java application could reach over two thirds of the Japanese mobile market.

Devices from Japan’s third major carrier, KDDI, primarily run applications developed in C/C++ utilizing the BREW framework and has traditionally been supported by far fewer mobile application developers in Japan.  Porting of applications between Java and BREW, while not impossible, often proves to be a time consuming and expensive task.

As a result Japanese mobile application developers formed into 2 major camps, those developing applications in Java for DoCoMo and Softbank handsets, and those utilizing the BREW framework to develop for KDDI’s devices.  The markets for each of those camps have been more than large enough in the past to ensure that both groups of developers survive and profit.

It is only recently with the introduction and growing user interest in Android, Windows Mobile, and the iPhone that the market has started to fragment significantly and adapting to a fragmented market is going to be a challenge for Japanese developers.

The general mood amongst mobile application developers in Japan is that while exploding in popularity overseas the iPhone and Android devices won’t attract significant developer share in Japan until the local user base improves.  The Japanese mobile phenomenon that served as the model for the mobile internet that is emerging world wide, evolved in isolation within Japan, and as a result Japanese developers are still limited by their myopic view that their user base does not extend beyond the Japanese market.  So until Japanese market conditions improve for Android and the iPhone don’t expect to see Japanese developers joining the ranks in droves.

While Japanese developers procrastinate on the decision of which platforms to support, overseas engineers are busy improving and localizing their products into Japanese.  Their established brands, and applications could just corner the Japanese market, making Japanese developers irrelevant.

Android Tops DoCoMo Handset Rankings for July

The Android powered HT-03A entered DoCoMo’s monthly handset sales rankings at number 1 for July, followed by the Windows Mobile based T-01A from Toshiba according to figures released by NTT DoCoMo.

1. docomo PRO series HT-03A
2. docomo PRO series T-01A
3. docomo STYLE series N-08A
4. docomo STYLE series SH-05A
5. docomo PRIME series SH-06A
6. docomo STYLE series P-08A
7. docomo PRIME series F-09A
8. docomo PRIME series N-07A
9. docomo STYLE series P-10A
10. docomo STYLE series F-08A

With the excitement and advertising around the launch of the “Google Phone” it was bound to sell well over other models in DoCoMo’s range, but how well will it stand up over coming months?

Can the Google Phone Be Saved?

An interesting article from Slate notes that while the iPhone commands nearly 14 percent of smartphone sales and BlackBerry about 21 percent, Android has only 3 percent, and even though Android is more open to developers, it has failed to attract anywhere near the number of apps now clogging the iPhone.

The author writes that Google went wrong by giving handset manufacturers and carriers too much control over the design and marketing of Android phones so there is no idealized ‘Google phone’.  Instead, Android devices are named T-Mobile G1 or  myTouch 3G, each is marketed separately and comes with its own distinct capabilities and shortcomings.

No manufacturers seem to be trying to match the capabilities of the iPhone.  A smart handset manufacturer could build a top-of-the-line Android device that outshines Apple’s phone in the areas of better battery life,  a superior Web browser, a brighter, bigger screen, and faster more functional controls.  But so far, that’s not happening.

Read the full article here.