Qualcomm has been strongly pushing BREW as the platform of choice for cell phone development. I have seen their ads
literally all over the place, from websites to even java magazines like JDJ (where a one page ad faced off with an article on Java ME (J2ME)).
In addition, news stories about BREW started to appear regularly on news.com and other sites.
Although Sun has taken the high road and so far has not flooded the airwaves with Java ME (J2ME) ads, it must have finally had enough and on today's
news.com, the blaring headline announced: Is Qualcomm's BREW flat?
Sun Microsystems is claiming victory over what was supposed to be a serious challenge from Qualcomm to dominate the market for cell phone software that can deliver advanced services.
Qualcomm introduced BREW (Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless ) in February 2001 to compete with Sun's Java. Cell phones with either software can download and run small programs for playing games or sending messages.
But BREW hasn't won many converts compared with the slimmed-down version of Java that debuted in cell phones from Nextel Communications almost a year ago.
Korean carrier KT Freetel is the only carrier with BREW in its phones and wireless network, although Verizon Wireless intends to launch a service in the United States in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, there are 20 million Java-capable handsets in circulation, and many carriers have committed to using the technology, including NTT DoCoMo in Japan and Sprint PCS.
BREW also is behind in the race for developers to write revenue-enhancing applications. Evans Data estimates there are 500 BREW developers, many of whom are attending this week's BREW Developer Conference in San Diego. That's compared with the 200,000 developers Sun claims to have working on a version of Java for cell phones called Java2 MicroEdition.
While the competition is far from over and both technologies are finding a home, some analysts are declaring a winner.
"Java will eventually win out," said Michael King, a senior wireless application analyst at Gartner Dataquest.
