J2ME Dough - Launching a MIDlet automatically

Well, I have been planning to write this blog for sometime but was not able to gather time and content. Anyway, so now here I am giving whatever information I have collected on launching a midlet from your application or from your server or automatically. In this article, I will not mention what all you can do, but would like to stress on what you can't do! So lets start step by step:

1) Launching a MIDlet from an Application - If you are planning to do this on MIDP 1.0 then forget it. It is not possible! I too thought that people over the net are talking crap there must be some way out, but there isn't. I wasted my one week researching the same day and night but of no use. You cannot access anything outside your holy JAR file. So you might want to check next option directly from here.
If you are using MIDP 2.0, then there is some dough for you. Its called Push Registry. In this you register/unregister a port and listen on that and blah blah blah. But here the next barrier comes in scene is that some phones do not support socket/datagram/stream connections. They are not mandatory in MIDP, its all left on the mood of manufacturer (wtf???). Even the series 60 emulators doesn't know this, thats why they have released examples with socket connection. The common error that the deviece throws is "SymbianOS error = -28 General: System error". After a little research, I concluded that this means that the connection you are trying to open is not supported by your device (n'joy!!!). So this leaves a few selecective phones for you. What I would recommend you, if you are developing a professional application then please please please check on all the phones you are releasing. Don't go by the assumption that these two are similar phones so if it is working on one phone, it will work on other too.

2) Launching a MIDlet through Web Application or WML Page - In this, sprint mobile users (U.S. Carrier) take an edge. A detailed description of how to launch midlet through webpage can be found over here. Again if you are using MIDP 1.0, least you can do is use push proxy gateway SI request. I haven't tried this myself because the process was too complicated and I have least knowledge of the same. But this is the only possible solution I think, for MIDP 1.0.
For MIDP 2.0 users, push registry again comes in to picture. You can register an application to listen on a specific port for SMSes. An then send a request from WML Page to your server and server will send the SMS on the respective port. This is a better solution then launching a MIDlet through Application, as here the tension of looking for possible connections on each and every mobile phone obviates.

3) Launching a MIDlet automatically - well, as always J2ME imposes its restrictions in here too. If you want to launch a midlet during boot then all you have to do is resgister on port 8099. I haven't tried this myself but all over the net its the same, so I guess it must be true! Other possible scenarios are, if you want to launch a MIDlet at a specified time then you can do it again via Push Registry in MIDP 2.0. In MIDP 1.0 this can't be done.

So, overall to conclude, in MIDP 1.0 only way to launch a MIDlet is via Push Proxy service and in MIDP 2.0 it is more flexible, but erratic, because of Push Registry which is more or less meant for this purpose only.

Mobile gaming in India

Well I have been doing a lot of research lately regarding the mobile gaming industry in India. Seeing the growth of various sectors such as Mobile user base, Ringtones, Picture Messages, SMS contests etc. etc., researchers say that the next big thing in mobile domain would be gaming. But what astonishes me the most is that in all the above sectors one thing in common... they are damn cheap (mind you, I am talking in INR). And mobile gaming gives us a lot of restriction such as GPRS connectivity, capable handsets etc. etc. I am saying all this because I myself am planning to put up a start-up in the same and frankly I am very disappointed. I don't know from where I would be able to get the user base :(

If you search the internet you will get such big figures like million dollar industry and all, but who in today's world (read India) subscribes to GPRS in the first place (which is a must for gaming!). Atleast, I didn't had GPRS till i started working towards it. To solve my confusions, I attended a conference on Mobile Gaming in India, where many big players of the market like Indiagames, Mauj, Mobile2win and service providers like Reliance, TTSL, MTNL, Airtel joined in. And I was surprised to see that they too were disappointed. Their main concern was that the market has become stagnant. But they say that with the implementation of 3G technologies in India, which MTNL claimed would be enabled by March 2007 on their network, market will take a new turn. All I could think of was "give me a break!". Mobile gaming has been successful in countries like Japan, China, UK, USA where various other modes of gaming like XBox, Play Station, Nintendo have proven their success. In India, I don't know how many have licensed version of even the most popular games such as Counter Strike and Age of Empires. Pirated CDs sell like cheese cakes in this country.

Well, I am not here to criticize Indian Market or citizen. In fact on the contrary, there can't be a better way to establish yourself and move to the next level (international market). Here the market is driven by just one force, prizes and gifts, thats what I percieve. If you associate gaming with prizes (just like reliance is doing) I guess you can make a good profit for yourself. Atleast I think so. And why shouldn't I, yesterday I saw an Ad in which they were giving 25 rupees talk time for free if India wins and to register you have to pay 5 rupees. This makes me wonder, how much money they will make if India looses. And they say betting and gambling is banned in India. I can't understand the difference between this and betting.


So, in short if I start writing what can work and what can't in Indian market, it would take me ages. All I am trying to say here is, the mobile gaming market in India is still in its nascent stage and I am glad to have identified that. If you too want to enter, be prepared with your strategy in mind and I am confident if you have planned your finances well, then there is a lot of public out there to spend on your plan....

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship... the word fasicinated me from the day I have heard it (I do fantasized about launching a venture, before I heard of the word!!). Well If I go and look into a dictionary (wordweb), it defines entrepreneur as "Someone who organises a business venture and assumes the risk for it". Now since the dictionary meaning are standards in english, so I guess this should be the actual meaning. So now I will not try to impose my meanings now (though I don't know why, I don't completly agree with this meaning). After thinking a lot about the idea of launching a venture myself, a lot of questions popped up in my head. So I started searching on net, reading books, newspapers, articles etc. etc. So here is a short summary of what I found out .

Entrepreneurship and Money
Common wisdom is that you can make more money if you are an entrepreneur rather than if you are an employee. Though you cannot say so seeing the market in todays date, as you will find (almost) equal number of rich entrepreneurs and employees. There are employees like India head of Pepsi, who are better off than most of the entrepreneurs in India. And if I see in todays corporate world, though my experience of corporate world is minimal, even the big companies owners dont have boasting ownership in their companies. As I was looking into Indiagames, a global game provider company, its founder Vishal Gondal has just 19.4 percent stake in his own company. Also, if you see now-a-days, atleast 10-15 percent of the company's (generally start-ups) stakes goes into IPOs and ESOPs and approximately 50 percent are taken by the VCs or whosoever funds the start-up and now if the company is even started by two partners, both will just get 17.5 percent stake in their own company. And this is the best case scenario I have considered. But then not everyone can be Country Head of Pepsi. They say that if you save from your salary and invest the savings wisely you can earn more than any entrepreneur in your age group. Oh really! where should I invest seeing the current market scenario. Obviously stock market is the last thing on my head. Property rates are climbing the ladder so fast, that if I fall I am surely going to heaven (or hell!). So if you see from that point of view, why to gamble on others talent rather than yours. So I believe that if you want to reach to the eight figure bank balance early, entrepreneur is a good option.

Entrepreneurship and Age
I have been researching a lot about entrepreneurship and what is the right age to start. I can see people starting their business/venture even at an age of 50. That makes me wonder, what is the right age to start a venture. Shall I wait some more years to gain more exposure to the market, make more connections (or as they say, gain more wisdom). Or am I ready to face those senior management of big companies and can stand against them. But then I guess there are a few advantages of starting venture at a young age:

1. I have more energy and zeal. I havent yet crossed the critical barrier of 30 after which your body starts imposing restriction on your daily habits!
2. I have far less commitments (rather none) as compared to a grown individual. I dont have family/kids (or any responsibility as such) to take care of.
3. I have large backup options, i.e. even if I fail, I can still be an employee!
4. I have a gut feeling that having my own company and fighting in the corporate world will definitely add to my wisdom/knowledge bank a great deal. And till now I have professional ethics living inside me, which they say are hinderance to your success path!

And now the final question, how to decide when its right time to start. I belive that opportunity knocks doors atleast once. And whenever it does grab the spoon! I had read in an article, the best predictor of entrepreneurship is not age, not money, not wealth but its the ability. Oddly enough, it is a U shaped curve. People very low and very high in ability tend to start companies. The middle usually stays put. You know yourself better than anyone. Why do you want to be an entrepreneur? If the answer is because you can't stand working for someone else or you can't deal with the 8-5 life, then you may not be cut out for startup success. You may fall on the lower end of that U shaped curve. But if you think you have untapped potential, if you think you could do more than you do at your current job, if you love the thrill of the game, and if you realize the financial risk you are taking, then make the jump.

Please note that views written above are solely my own views and if you wish to follow them, follow at your own risk! Adios...