Sprint PCS brings Java to handsets

September 11, 2001 — Sprint PCS Group has jumped on the Java bandwagon, announcing an application developers’ program in conjunction with Sun Microsystems Inc. and support for Java on a pair of handsets running the Palm Inc. operating system.

Sprint PCS will start shipping the i300 handset from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. by the end of this month. The Samsung handset will run the Palm OS as well as support Java, said Noland. The i300 will be the first color handset running the Palm operating system and will cost about 99, according to Noland. The unit measures 4.9 inches by 2.28 inches and is .82 inches thick (12.4 centimeters by 5.8 centimeters and 2.1 centimeters thick). It weighs six ounces (170 grams).

Sprint PCS will join Nextel Communications Inc. as a US-based provider of Java-enabled phones via both its developer program and future handsets, said Pat Noland, product manager at Sprint PCS, in an interview Wednesday at the CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association) event held in San Diego, Calif. Sprint PCS is showing the phone at its CTIA booth.

Companies such as Japan’s NTT DoCoMo Inc. and Nokia Corp. have already squared their efforts around Java-enabled phones, announcing that they will be selling millions of handsets with the compact J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition) software over the next couple of years.

Java is the popular “Write Once, Run Anywhere” programming language developed by Sun that the company claims could make the end user’s wireless life more enjoyable by making it easier to download software and run more complex types of entertainment or business software.

Users can currently load a small program know as a JVM (Java Virtual Machine) onto Sprint PCS handsets made by Kyocera Corp. and run Java applications. The Kyocera handset, which has been available for several months, combines phone functions with handheld tools running on the Palm operating system. The Kyocera Smartphone weighs 7.34 ounces and is 5.6 inches by 2.5 inches and 0.86 inches thick. It typically costs about 99 when users agree to a one-year service contract with a provider such as Sprint PCS, according to a Kyocera representative at the CTIA show.

Sprint PCS will team with Sun officials and industry analysts to judge a Java developers contest at Sprint PCS’ developer conference to be held this October in Las Vegas.

“We are kicking off our J2ME contest with Sun today and inviting all developers to participate,” Noland said