3G Americas Updates Javaâ„¢ Technical Recommendations for Handsets

Broad industry support to be showcased May 16th at the 2006 JavaOne(SM) Conference

Bellevue, WA, May 12, 2006 - 3G Americas, a trade association supporting the wireless industry throughout the Americas, announced today an update of the 3G Americas Java (TM) Technical Recommendations for handsets to further interoperability and drive content development. The overall goal of the recommendations by 3G Americas is to establish a Java technology-based platform that focuses on the specific needs of operators, device OEMs, and Java application developers through improved capabilities of Java technology that can be implemented into future devices. The update corresponds to the previously released 2005 recommendations from 3G Americas and provides for consistency with the recently updated requirements of the subset of JSR 248 (MSA Sub-set 1.0).Chris Pearson, President of 3G Americas, stated, "These 3G Americas Java recommendations have gained broad support throughout the industry. This update continues the progress of Java interoperability for the Americas and benefits operators, developers, and device vendors throughout the world as it will reduce fragmentation in the marketplace and drive shorter development cycles for providing content across multiple handsets."

Globally, according to Ovum, there are more than 1.1 billion Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME) capable mobile devices in the marketplace, with 647 million Java technology enabled handsets shipped in 2005. It is estimated that more than 180 leading wireless operators have deployed Java technology-based services.

"As global wireless operators drive more compelling value-added services into the market, it is critical for the wireless eco-system to have more consistent Java technology implementations in handsets," said Alan Brenner, Vice President, Sun Client Systems Group. "The strong collaboration between 3G Americas and the JSR 248, Mobile Service Architecture (MSA), Expert Group has resulted in the next generation application platform that will drive this consistency across handsets and enable a multitude of exciting new handset applications to begin reaching the market early next year."

On May 16, 2006, from 10:30 p.m. to 11:20 p.m. at the JavaOne Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California, a 3G Americas organized BOF will discuss the JSR 248 subset (MSA-subset 1.0) technical recommendations. The BOF session will showcase broad industry support for the JSR248 subset recommendations and feature leading Java experts from Cingular, Orange, Sprint-Nextel, Nokia, Sun Microsystems and 3G Americas.

The 3G Americas Java™ Technical Recommendations paper was prepared by members of 3G Americas with contributions from Sun Microsystems and input gathered from Java application developers, and is available for free download at the 3G Americas' website: www.3gamericas.org.

About 3G Americas: Unifying the Americas through Wireless Technology
The mission of 3G Americas is to promote and facilitate the seamless deployment throughout the Americas of GSM and its evolution to 3G and beyond. The organization fully supports the Third Generation technology migration strategy to EDGE and UMTS/HSDPA adopted by many operators in the Americas that is expected to account for up to 85% of next-generation customers worldwide. 3G Americas is headquartered in Bellevue, WA with an office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Dallas, TX. For more information, visit our website at www.3gamericas.org.

3G Americas' Board of Governor members include: Andrew Corporation, Cingular Wireless (USA), Cable & Wireless (West Indies), Ericsson, Gemplus, HP, Lucent Technologies, Motorola, Nokia, Nortel Networks, Openwave Systems, Research In Motion, Rogers Wireless (Canada), Siemens, T-Mobile USA, Telcel (Mexico), Telefonica Moviles (Spain) and Texas Instruments.

Source: 3G Americas