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1,200,000
1,000,000
800,000
600,000
400,000
200,000
00
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
Nokia
Motorola
Siemens
Samsung
Sony Ericsson
LG
Others
Figure 1.2
Annual number of devices sold
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Add five more years and it is 2012. At current growth rates, it is
estimated that smartphones will comprise nearly 30% of the market
(compared to 10% in 2007) and that subscriber levels worldwide will
reach 3.5 billion. Just think about that number - we can't really conceive
figures like this in our minds, but this is a really big market. Eight out
of ten devices support some form of Java-based technology - quite an
opportunity for the budding technically-minded entrepreneur. If you sell
every thousandth person a $1 Java ME MIDlet, pretty soon you'll have
made over $3million - job done, time to retire.
1.2 2008: Mobile Generation
Our world has changed. Like all great upheavals, the 'rise of the mobile'
has had both positive and negative effects on us. As a society, we're
irrevocably addicted to our information devices now. Everywhere we look
we see iPod MP3 players, Tom-Tom personal navigation devices, mass-
market feature phones, smartphones, managers who can't get off their
Blackberries, people talking while walking, people setting up meetings,
messaging, listening to music, reading, using devices for entertainment,
organization, romance, learning. It goes on and on.
Mobile information devices are the instruments of an unprecedented
wave of fundamental social change. The very basis upon which we inter-
act with each other has suddenly changed without notice and the results
are not necessarily all good. SMS bullying is on the rise; onboard cameras
have changed our expectations of personal privacy; train carriages are
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java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/javame/mobilemarket
