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2002 October 31st
Thursday

I wanted to summarize some of the things I learned about
cell phone development over the past few days -- because
almost everyone who reads this list will eventually have
a cell phone, and some basic facts about cell phone
carriers may greatly influence the experience you have
with your cell phone.

PHONE MODELS, CARRIERS, AND PROGRAMMING ENVIRONMENTS:
=====================================================

A given phone model (e.g., Motorola T720, ... ) for a given 
carrier (e.g., AT&T, Verizon, ... ) executes a single type
of code (e.g., J2ME, BREW, ... ).

If you get a contract with Verizon, and you choose the
Motorola T720, the phone executes BREW only.

If you get a contract with AT&T, and you choose the
Motorola T720, the phone executes J2ME only.

It's critical to note that if you get the same model
phone with a different carrier, it may fundamentally
execute a different kind of code.  The two major
platforms are: J2ME and BREW.

WHAT IS SO WRONG ABOUT "BREW":
===============================================

BREW is "Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless",
a proprietary platform developed by QUALCOMM.
To learn more about BREW, visit their WWW site:

http://www.qualcomm.com/brew

The BREW version of the ARM compiler required
to develop code for your own phone costs $1,500.

No application (even those you download yourself
via a data cable) can survive on your phone for
more than three months, at which time you need
a new "signature" from QUALCOMM.

If you are developing an application for a BREW
phone, you must submit all source code, original
and compiled art assets, and documentation to
QUALCOMM -- just to get a "signature".

Once you develop an application or even simple
resources like "desktop wallpaper" or "ringer tunes",
you need a closed technology called "Get It Now"
(a service of QUALCOMM, not the carrier) for 
people to download your creations (for a fee).

All phones with Verizon contracts use BREW.

A person who worked at a company that does BREW
development told me that the fact that BREW was
a closed platform (very costly to acquire compiler,
very costly to share your creations with others,
hard to acquire temporary "signatures") results in
higher quality products in the market.  But for
the consumer the situation is actually very bad,
since this closed system pretty much guarantees
that anything you can possibly download is going
to cost money!  Even if I wanted to give away my
cool ringer sounds or desktop wallpaper, I think
I'd need an elaborate partnership with QUALCOMM
just to let you download my creations via
"Get It Now".

BREW destroys the value of an otherwise advanced
phone (e.g., Motorola T720).  When I purchased
the phone I had dreams of uploading cool pictures
for my desktop, and playing sound clips from
movies and video games whenever the phone "rings".
Wouldn't it be cool to have your phone do a
Ren & Stimpy voice ("You EEE-diot!") or 
Ms. Cleo ("Oh my goodness!"), or any sample
you could find?  Well, unless you're willing to
pay a third party some money, you can't do
any of this with a BREW-based phone.

I am returning my phone and cancelling my contract
today (within 15-day trial period) to get the
exact same phone (Motorola T720) with a carrier
that chose J2ME for their phones (e.g., AT&T).

WHAT IS J2ME?  
===============================================

J2ME is "Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition", a
"highly optimized" Java runtime environment.
To learn more about J2ME, visit Sun's WWW site:

http://java.sun.com/j2me

Chances are that you have already done some
Java programming in your life!  I was very
surprised to learn that J2ME really does have
a lot of Java functionality!

You can create threads, sockets, etc, very
easily.  You can distribute the *.JAR and
*.JAD files.

I never liked the idea of "Garbage Collection"
on any platform (Java, C#, etc), or the fact
that every Java temporary value is an object
that must be garbage collected (so something
like s = "a" + "b" + "c"; leads to a temporary
object "ab" (or "bc") that might persist for
quite a long time!).

Actually, there's a lot I don't like about
Java, but it is FREE and well-documented,
and millions of people have developed code
for Java.  I'm sure there are lots of discussion
forums for J2ME.  (Contrast all of this with
the BREW situation!)

In fifteen minutes of WWW surfing I found
tons of cool applications, images, and
sound effects for the Motorola T720 
J2ME version -- all FREE.

People wrote some crazy applications for
their phones, like WWW servers and databases!

I'm told that the gaming or multiplayer
experience won't be real-time for years
(since phones don't recognize multiple
simultaneous button pressing, and there's
a lot of LATENCY in network traffic), but
I am very excited by being able to take
full advantage of the multimedia aspects
of my property (phone) without having
third parties (QUALCOMM, Verizon, Microsoft
MSN) invading my privacy and extorting money
from me when they made no contribution to
my product.

GENERAL SUMMARY:
============================================

When I learned that I couldn't even set my
"desktop wallpaper" on my new Motorola T720
phone without paying Verizon / QUALCOMM, and
uploading my personal images to a stranger's
server, I was stunned and depressed.  I wondered how
"The Man" was able to get this far in a free
market.  Now I know, from experience, that
it's just the ignorance of the consumer;
I just wasn't aware how radically different
the phone experience could be, just based
on partnership decisions of the carrier.

Business and development models like BREW / "Get It Now",
and information gathering strategies like
".NET Passport", "Real One Player", "Microsoft
Windows Media Player", etc, have greatly held
back the promise of technology by setting
up barriers and telling the consumer (by actions,
not by promises to the contrary) that his or her privacy
has no value whatsoever.  How can even the most forgiving
personality avoid becoming cynical when giant
corporations, which could comfortably grow
without uploading every CD track title and WWW site
URL that you visit, do it anyway just to derive 
marginally more cash from you?

I hope developers will not get suckered in to
the BREW paradigm.  And, ultimately, I think
consumers will discover and choose the open
paradigm (e.g., J2ME).

It may be true that BREW / "Get It Now" is
sufficiently closed to turn more downloads in
to cash for the developer -- but the closed
nature may be the exact reason the entire 
market shifts to something like J2ME.
Also, a small J2ME developer can get 100% of 
the purchase price of any item, and developement
tools are FREE.

I gotta go; I have a phone to return!  I am
voting with my wallet.

--- Colin
cp...@ea...

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gamedevlists-general Mailing List for gamedev (Page 71)

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