At the Telecom 99 conference in Geneva, Switzerland, both companies are taking the opportunity to tout their growing emphasis on providing software and hardware for companies who develop products for every aspect of wireless communication technology, including cell phone manufacturers, content providers, and service companies. Sun announced strategic partnerships for its Java mobile phone group with Sony and Motorola. Previously, Sun announced a similar deal with the Symbian alliance, which includes manufacturers such as Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, Philips, and Psion.
Symbian companies account for almost half of the cell phones shipping today.
By pushing the development of Internet services available through cell phones and other wireless devices, both HP and Sun are hoping that companies will buy heavy-duty HP or Sun servers to make these services available. Sony, meanwhile, is showing a prototype of its CMD-CD5 smart phone which runs Credit Suisse online banking applications, the company said. Clary cited research indicating that the a billion wireless phones are expected to be in operation by 2005. The widespread adoption of Sun's Java in these phones will also bring in royalties for the company. Java, at least theoretically, allows software written once to run on several different devices regardless of differences in underlying hardware.