The new games are expected to generate more than $3 million a month in revenue in their first couple of years, which will be evenly split, after costs, between MMO2 and the games' developers.

MMO2 will exploit Sun Microsystems' J2ME platform "to offer our customers dynamic and interactive content, with an arcade feel, which they can play over and over [on their Java-enabled handset] once they download it," said Steve Embling, product manager for games at MMO2.

MMO2 operates mobile networks in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland.

Europe still lags behind mobile phone markets like Japan in a broader penetration of handsets with a color screen and Java capabilities. The expected growth of Java-based mobile games in Europe "will be tied to the availability of Java-enabled devices," said Embling.

Roughly 20 percent of the mobile handsets in Europe will be Java-enabled by next March, said Embling, who predicted that figure will quickly ramp up to 80 percent over the next 12 to 18 months.

Although service operators like T-Mobile and Vodafone have dabbled in Java-based applications elsewhere in Europe, MMO2 said it is making the industry's first commercial launch of Java-based games in the United Kingdom. "We've done a lot of due diligence," Embling said, citing collaboration with handset device manufacturers, game developers and platform designers.

Platform goal

The parties are "all working toward a common goal of establishing a J2ME-based platform," he said. "We have put in place both a billing system and a platform to support J2ME capabilities."

Europe's lack of a huge surge in the mobile gaming market thus far has been blamed frequently on the mobile operators' inability to pose a clear business model. Moreover, mobile games have often been tied to a proprietary handset, a proprietary platform and a proprietary service.

MMO2 hopes J2ME's use by application developers will help create greater cross-platform compatibility. But equally important is "to build a solid billing system and platform supporting J2ME," Embling said.

MMO2 initially used Nokia's 3410 model as a target device to optimize the new Java-based game offerings. Meanwhile, the company was quickly adding other mobile handsets like the Siemens M50 to its game download platform. That allows MMO2's platform to recognize the new device used by a subscriber and download the game in accordance with the memory size and other capabilities available on that particular handset.

MMO2 expects a range of Java-enabled devices including color screens to emerge during the pre-Christmas season this year. Nokia has several new Java-enabled models in the offing, as do Motorola and Sony Ericsson.

Embling said his company has already built into its platform a core technical competence capable of supporting multiple operators. "If Vodafone customers decided to download our arcade game from MMO2, they can do so — in theory. That capability is already there in our platform." But MMO2 has chosen not to turn on that capability yet and the company would not say when it plans to do so.

Solid model

Forrester Research predicted that 130 million Europeans will play mobile games by 2005 if the industry can move past today's broken business models. Embling defended MMO2's business model, saying that "we know our customers want it and we have a good business model to make this huge platform commercially viable."

According to MMO2, the games will cost the equivalent of about $3 each, including a downloading charge. Once the customer has downloaded the game, it will remain active on the handset for at least 30 days, and can be played repeatedly. MMO2 expects 3 percent of its 20 million subscribers to be playing Java-based games in the first couple of years, downloading about two games per month. The company will split net revenue 50:50 with game developers. All games are free until Sept. 30. The company plans to add three new games per month.