Mobile enterprise developers seem paralyzed these days. With the exception of mobile e-mail, offered by companies such as RIM, SEVEN and Good, the community seems to be waiting for the next killer app. A stagnant economy and lack of venture capital funding adds to the malaise, but the path to profitability is clearer than it seems.

The mobile consumer market represents the lion's share of mobile data services revenue due to gaming. So it's no wonder that the market has sidestepped the enterprise. Even for the most obvious mobile enterprise application, e-mail, there are established players both innovating and capitalizing on the market. Why enter such a crowded playing field? Because developers can create new markets.

By anticipating the next wave of mobile application demand today, enterprise developers are in a strong position to create new products for tomorrow by recognizing that ultimate success in the mobile enterprise market resides with four immovable pillars:

• Identify key pain points-and make an unwavering mission to resolve them
• Provide the right content for mobile environments
• Enable seamless end-to-end integration
• Embed security into each solution layer

Mobile enterprise development: Why it's worth it

Consider Research in Motion. For years, critics mocked the company mercilessly; after all, were BlackBerrys supposed to be phones, PDAs, pagers, or what? Research in Motion's success came from identifying a key pain point--delivering wireless e-mail to corporate road warriors - developing a user-friendly way to solve it and sticking to its vision.

So instead of waiting around for the next big bandwagon, developers and carriers should take a page from successful enterprise deployments like RIM's BlackBerry-define their own vision, plan for seamless end-to-end integration and infuse security into the very DNA of their enterprise solutions. And indeed, there are many opportunities to resolve some of the biggest enterprise pain points, including:

• Extending piecemeal enterprise functionality into full-fledged BlackBerry-like services, including CRM, sales force automation and financial services applications
• Blending presence, location-based services and other 3G-powered network intelligence into mobile applications
• Exploiting the near-term convergence of desktop and mobile environments

For those able to cross the mobile enterprise chasm, high ROI targets abound. How about the Wall Street veteran who needs advanced trading functionality on his or her BlackBerry? Or a commercial real estate broker needing on-the-spot data about a particular lot? And salespeople can never get enough mobile data-it keeps them in the field, generating more revenue.

Content matters

Developers must avoid is the temptation to slap a wireless extension onto a major enterprise application. The goal is to get the right information to the right client at the right time - not to build some functional but disjointed, clumsy link.

For example, a simple search engine might be optimized for cell phones, but a search result with 500 hits is far too many for a typical mobile device.

In contrast to device limitations, mobile enterprise applications can benefit from the mobile device's unique relationship to its network, allowing developers to enhance the end-user experience by tapping into services such as presence.

For instance, a "find me/follow me" service might send all inbound e-mails to my desktop client, but only forward preferred e-mails (let's say from my boss or spouse) to my mobile device. As telephony continues its march toward voice over IP and becomes increasingly integrated into desktops, even more opportunities will arise in this field.

Location-based services offer another avenue for enterprise content, particularly when combined with deploying and routing resources more efficiently. Emergency service workers, supply chain managers and mobile sales forces are just some of the beneficiaries of enterprise location-based content.

End-to-end integration

Of course, no service exists in isolation or even just on desktops. Any serious mobile enterprise application will need to tap into an existing enterprise application, spurring questions of how to interact with legacy software.

Developers have a number of choices, though few match the elegance of connecting back-end Java applications with client side mobile Java applications. In fact, one critical success factor for Research in Motion is that their service is built on top of Java. This enables RIM to leverage Java's complete end-to-end architecture, similar programming skill sets for both enterprise and mobile applications and a security model unmatched in today's marketplace.

However, creating BlackBerry-like enterprise applications does not require specialized devices or PDAs. Today, Java technology resides on more than half a billion mass market devices to date, and there is a global Java network-with consumer acceptance-already in place. Approximately 70% of today's shipped handsets have Java on them, with MIDP 2.0 and JTWI providing standardization and reducing fragmentation across the industry.

Additionally, the Java Verified Program will help increase content portability across different handsets and carriers while helping developers market their applications to carriers and content portals alike.

Further, sophisticated back-end infrastructure like open standards-based service delivery platforms and identity management software enable carriers to act as "identity service providers." Coupled with secure tokens like Java

Powered SIM cards, these technologies are already being used to deliver m-commerce applications in Asia-like NTT DoCoMo's i-mode FeliCa and SK Telecom's MONETA-and will soon spread to the rest of the world.

DNA-level security

As mobile commerce and critical corporate intellectual property flow towards mobile devices, the industry needs robust security measures in place before customers will purchase anything. If proof-of-concept worms like Cabir reminds the industry of anything, it is that mobile application security cannot be an aftermarket product.

The integration with Java Card and its strong built-in security model has powered the industry's most secure mobile operating platform. Now with the integration of Java Card and web services, it is possible to build an end-to-end open standards-based enterprise application in a secure fashion.

Bringing it together

In the end, few hard and fast rules span the spectacularly diverse mobile environment given the sheer number of use cases, connectivity issues, regional preferences and even social categories involved.

Companies that don't understand these nuances but try to use brute force to enter the market will be unsuccessful. The winners will most likely be companies with a big vision that leverage open standards-based technology to deliver end user-friendly applications that address serious pain points.

Everyone knows that the "mobile revolution" has been tomorrow's "next big thing" for years. The difference this time around is that between 3G networks, advanced handsets and Java technology, the tools developers need to develop powerful mobile applications are a reality. So as optimism continues to reinvigorate the mobile industry, remember that enterprises represent a lucrative opportunity to dream big and execute confidently – in other words, to "cross the chasm".

Eric Chu is Senior Director, J2ME Platform, Client Systems Group (CSG), Sun Microsystems.