It is good to see this. After a long time, hard work, lots of discussions, MIDP3 final draft has been submitted to the JCP…

MIDP3 includes a number of new APIs and functionality. And while the smartphones have gone their own way with their own platforms and environments, MIDP3 is relevant and will be a great environment for feature phones. For those asking what a feature-phone is, Phone Scoop as a good definition:

A Feature phone is any mobile phone that is not a smartphone or PDA phone. Feature phones have proprietary operating system (OS) firmware. If they support third-party software, it is only via a limited interface such as Java or BREW.

Compared to software for smartphones, Java or BREW software for feature phones is often less powerful, less integrated with other features of the phone, and less integrated into the main user interface of the phone.

This is changing, as newer versions of Java and BREW allow software to be more powerful and integrate with more features of the phone, although the difference is still present, especially on the interface side. While third-party smartphone software is a “first-class citizen” on the phone, third-party Java or BREW software is usually restricted to a special “applications” section of the interface.

The Proposed Final Draft Specification for JSR-000271 Mobile Information Device Profile 3 is now available at http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=271.

“This JSR will specify the 3rd generation Mobile Information Device Profile, expanding upon the functionality in all areas as well as improving interoperability across devices.”

I hope to start seeing MIDP3 devices later this year…

CEO