Zimbra announced the availability of its ZimbraME (Java Mobile Edition) client and source code for businesses. Users of any Java-enabled mobile phone will have access to the industry's most complete collaboration solution. The ZimbraME client provides Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) Open Source and Network Edition users worldwide with free access to the Zimbra experience with e-mail and calendar on mass-market Java-enabled mobile phones. This extends Zimbra's reach of services to the broadest range of devices available in the market and builds on Yahoo!'s e-mail and mobile Web services and as a key starting point for consumers.

2008 is going to be an important year for Rich Internet Applications. Most organizations are delivering or planning to deliver Rich Internet Applications; however, at the same time, most IT managers are facing a dilemma: which Rich Internet Application technology and platform to use? The number of different frameworks and libraries is too vast to even consider evaluating a fraction of them.

Since the iPhone was first released, early adopters haven't stopped talking about what they think of the device. While the free promotion can be a great marketing tool for wireless carriers, it can be crippling if users have issues with session and network quality. This is the background to the iPhone Developer Summit session 'Early Adopters: The Key to Free Publicity or the Fall of a Technology,' to be given in March by Mark McIlvane, President & COO of Velocent Systems.

JavaFX is a scripting language that provides more powerful client applications in term of features for the user interface experience as well as being incorporated with server platform technology such as RMI, Web Services, and EJB. Its ability to reuse all Java libraries opens an opportunity for JavaFX to create flexibility and ease the integration and reuse of existing Java applications.

Can afford to take just one day off, get out of your cubicle and see what other people up to these days? Is J2EE still in favor? What's this ESB is about? Have you even heard of using Flex as a Web front end of your Java applications? Do not miss an event in NYC this Monday, that is created for people who think that they are way too busy to take several days off and spend them in the class. Just take one day off and attend the Real-World Java event. The discounted rate for this event is $395. To get this discount, enter the coupon code ?JUGgold' while registering

Kaspersky Lab, an anti-virus company, has detected a new piece of mobile malware. Trojan-MS .J2ME.RedBrowser.a is the first malicious program to infect not only smartphones, but any mobile phone capable of running Java (J2ME) applications. The Trojan spreads in the guise of a program called RedBrowser, which allegedly enables the user to visit WAP sites without using a WAP connection.

Motorola has announced another step forward in delivering their vision of Seamless Mobility with the launch of the Motorola A910 on BT's Fusion service. The dual mode Wi-Fi/UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) handset is the latest in Motorola's portfolio of fixed-mobile convergence devices enabling seamless access to both Broadband and GSM networks.

Canoo has announced that it successfully adapted UltraLightClient (ULC) to run on J2ME clients, providing Rich Internet Applications (RIA) to mobile devices and thin-client terminals. The sample application is based on an evolutionary prototype that will be released as a new product called ULC Mobile. ULC Mobile will be specially geared for ULC applications running on top of the Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) platform.

I had the honor to have the 'Father of the Nokia Series 60 UI', Christian Lindholm, write the Foreword for my new book 'Nokia Smartphone Hacks.' Christian's invention, the Nokia navigation key user interface, is used daily by billions of people everyday.

BlackBerry users can now view the availability status of their colleagues right from the phone book to determine whether it is more efficient to reach a person by making a call or sending a message.

Virgin Mobile will begin selling a Java-enabled Kyocera handset, the first Java handset for the company.

Sun's instant messaging will enable developers to communicate from within other applications.

A number of Mattel classic games will be delivered to mobile users through a partnership announced between Summus and Mattel.

RIM and its customers yesterday won the 'unfettered right' to continue in the BlackBerry-related wireless business when RIM and NTP, Inc. signed a binding term sheet that resolves all current litigation between them.

WebRenderer 3.0, called a 'milestone' in Java browser component technology, represents the culmination of development effort and refinement with a number of JadeLiquid's key customers.

Phoneomena has unveiled xPhoneApp 2.0, the industry's first wireless application pipe. The innovative middleware allows enterprise developers to rapidly and easily create reliable mobile applications without having to learn or keep up with changing technologies such as J2ME, BREW or Windows Mobile.

Philips will embed Hybrid's 3D graphics technology in its J-Ware Java product for mobile devices in an effort to bring 3D graphics to consumer handsets.

SavaJe has licensed OZ's J2ME mobile platform to deliver mobile operators and handset manufactures fully integrated IM services on mobile devices.

Having written about Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) programming for almost five years now, I've been frustrated by the slow adoption of the J2ME platform, as have many of the early devotees. Those of us who saw Sun demonstrate Java running on Palm OS back in 1999 were hoping that the wireless Java revolution was just around the corner. The introduction of J2ME generated a lot of hype and excitement (and confusion) in the Java development community.

Mobile communication comes into our daily lives very quickly, and as of today several wireless technologies have become standard. In this article I'll briefly review Bluetooth principles and the principles of Java development for Bluetooth on mobile devices.

Mobile Java (J2ME) is drawing the attention of many large media companies in the UK. The platform offers far greater flexibility over WAP, the current mobile language protocol. J2ME allows for customization of features, and provides broadcasters a channel by which to deliver news and content directly to consumers, using their mobile phones.

The Nokia SNAP Mobile solution will be integrated with Sun's Java 2 Platform Micro Edition Wireless Toolkit, Sun Java System Content Delivery Server and Sun Java Enterprise System running on the Solaris platform, to provide mobile operators and game distributors with a reliable and scaleable platform.

In the run-up to JavaOne next week, Sun is pre-announcing a very strong adoption rate among carriers for its 'Java Verified' program, which it says is now supported by 65% of the mobile device market, having recently been adopted by mobile operators Orange and T-Mobile Europe (Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, and the UK).

By 2007, according to a Nokia executive based in the booming Asia-Pacific region, the global total of mobile phone users will soar from the current 1.5 billion to a staggering 2 billion.

The Wireless Messaging API (WMA) reference implementation supports short message service (SMS) text and binary messages, but leaves the implementation of the hot area of multimedia messaging untouched. This article will demonstrate how to build a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) client using J2ME so you can get started writing new applications using this technology.

Delivering on its promise of enabling the latest Java standards on its Treo 600 smartphones and Tungsten line of handhelds, palmOne, Inc. has announced general availability of an ARM-processor-optimized Java runtime for end users.

Alcatel, rumored to be looking to sell its mobile handset production business, has a new mobile phone shipping right now: it has a large color screen, a built-in camera, and is firmly based on J2ME, including the very latest version of the Mobile Information Device Profile, MIDP 2.0.

Scott McNealy, the president, CEO and chairman of Sun Microsystems, kicked off CTIA WIRELESS 2004 in Atlanta today with a keynote presentation showcasing partner solutions and discussing industry trends, business models and IT strategies.

The mobile industry is standardizing both application provisioning and digital rights management (DRM). Provisioning includes the discovery and downloading of an application to a client device, while DRM deals with how to protect the application from unauthorized use.

Past Wireless Developer of the Year Michael Juntao Yuan is very clear: 'Fancy flashy J2ME games will not do it,' he asserts. The task for the wireless Java developer is more about developing specialized gateway servers and J2ME integration software to incorporate smart mobile front-ends into the system, he says. Particularly if you want employment in 2004!

In Cordrey's last column as J2ME editor, he writes of how a convergence of circumstances has made this an opportune time for him to sign off. With the January issue of JDJ, the J2ME section will be merged into the enterprise section. 'This reflects, in my opinion,' says Cordrey, 'a truth that some of the greatest benefits of J2ME will be realized through its symbiosis with J2EE.'

One of the most powerful aspects of J2ME is connected mobility: you're no longer tied to your desk to accomplish many vital tasks. You can carry everything you need in your shirt pocket, send an e-mail while standing in line at the grocery store, or check the latest stock figures while at a baseball game.

Samuel Johnson said, 'When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.' While Sun's current situation may not be dire enough to be considered analogous to facing the hangman's rope, it is clear that economic distress is forcing Sun to change its mindset.

Debugging, profiling, packaging - whatever you want, WSDD can do it all. IBM's WebSphere Device Developer (WSDD) is a sophisticated development platform for IBM's WebSphere Micro Environment (WME, also known as J9). Based on Eclipse, it's just right for those who like to work with Eclipse. The problems start if you prefer to use some other IDE or you believe in automated, continuous integration. This article will show you how to master using WME without WSDD.

Just two weeks after Microsoft announced that it will be offering Web services on Vodafone's network, comes yesterday's announcement from Sun and Texas Instruments about henceforth integrating Java on chips before they go to the handset makers.

The Location API (JSR 179) was accepted by the Executive Committee for Micro Edition of the Java Community Process in June 2003. It provides an abstract interface for access to location-based information, such as the current coordinates of the mobile terminal independent from the underlying positioning method used.

You finally put the finishing touches on your new J2ME application and are probably starting to think about what is involved in marketing and distributing your killer app. It is at this point that, all too often, great ideas are left as nothing more than great ideas.

Broad ranges of deployment choices are available to developers as they engage in new projects that will leverage the power of wireless communication platforms. While deploying services through third-generation (3G) and second-and-a-half generation (2.5G) wireless terminals presents challenges that are quite different from those encountered in personal computers and servers, many familiar environments have been adapted to resource-constrained devices.

In September 2002, Sun released the J2ME Personal Profile 1.0. Unlike the MIDP, which is the core technology for Java-enabled wireless phones based on Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC), Personal Profile is based on the Connected Device Configuration (CDC).

Jini provides simple and reliable access to services over any network, independent of platform, protocol, or application technology. Enterprises can use Jini to develop a resilient service-oriented architecture that can be accessed from a broad range of clients.