Because of the dearth of Java applications for its GSM Sim card, French IT services company Groupe Bull SA has launched a competition for Java developers. Bull Smart Cards and Terminals, in collaboration with STMicroelectronics and Sun Microsystems, hopes to gain between 30 and 40 Java applications from the Simagine 2000 – Worldwide GSM Java Card developer contest which will run until February 2 2000.
Competitors are given a Bull Sim Rock’n’Lab development kit and are directed towards a number of different areas, among them BlueTooth, content access, localization for emergency purposes and games. A purse totalling 50,000 euros ($54,200) is at stake.
Bull has been forced into organizing the competition, says Bull GSM manager Julien Zuccarelli, because telecoms firms are increasingly being differentiated by pricing, which means that no one makes any money. Instead, Bull wants to shift competition between carriers into services. Bull will use the applications for its Simrock Tree GSM Sim card, launched at the World GSM Conference in Cannes earlier this year.
