Motorola and Sega launch joint WAP venture

Motorola and Sega are launching a joint WAP venture to allow customers access to entertainment software through wireless enabled devices.

Sega has developed a range of games that will run on Motorola's J2ME platform. The platform, co-developed with Sun Microsystems, allows applications to run on any device equipped with J2ME, without the need to recompile or rewrite software for each device.

This means customers will be able to access the same set of games through mobile phones, pagers, laptops and palm devices.

Hideki Sato, corporate senior vice president of Sega Japan, said: "Because of Motorola's immense experience in Java and it's background in innovative wireless technology and products it is an ideal company for Sega to align with to realise our goal of owning a significant share of the wireless entertainment market."

Anne-Marie Larkin, vice president and director of wireless software applications at Motorola, also welcomed the deal. She said: "We are extremely pleased that Sega has chosen to work with Motorola to deploy their world class entertainment software and create wireless entertainment solutions."

Motorola chairs the Java Specification Request standards initiative pushing for a unified standard for wireless devices.