Despite the wireless hype, serious questions remain about the capabilities of advertising on this nascent medium.

Despite the wireless hype, serious questions remain about the capabilities of advertising on this nascent medium. Even Internet marketing, after all, still hasn't won over creative types who question its ability to emotionally involve an audience with the brand. Wireless has even larger hurdles to overcome. One innovation that may change that is coming to a cell phone near you. It's called mobile Java, or, more precisely, Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME). J2ME is a platform that sits on top of a phone's operating system and it brings added flexibility to a previously "dumb" device. Basically, it enables the phone to run applications just like a computer, and lets users download and install whatever programs they're interested in. The growth of the platform will have several implications for marketers. First of all, J2ME can give developers better control over the user interface -- a capability thought critical by those who've criticized WAP as being too clunky. Although J2ME can help enable an "always on" connection to the Internet, that connection isn't required for many programs to work on the platform. Since the application actually resides upon the phone, someone in a tunnel or out in the country (and unable to get a signal) could still interact with stand-alone programs on the device.