The Mobile Service Architecture (MSA) specifies a standardized set of APIs, which allows developers access to various capabilities – from sending SMS messages to address book information – on mobile phones. Ericsson is a member of the expert group that is drafting the upcoming second version of MSA, which will include an IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) API.

Java Micro Edition (ME) developers were treated with an overview of the current and upcoming versions of MSA on May 8, in a technical session held by Kay Glahn, a consultant at Vodaphone, and Erkki Rysä, a technical manager at Nokia.

Glahn said that improving and extending the current MSA will make more advanced smartphone features available to Java ME developers. It will also reduce ambiguity and fragmentation in the current MSA.

According to Glahn, the interoperability that MSA creates in the Java-enabled phone market, will allow developers to write applications for a bigger market, and that should be more profitable. MSA also makes it easier to develop applications and deploy them on different types of handsets. Meanwhile, manufacturers and operators will benefit from a larger developer community that turns out more applications. This means both increased demand for MSA-compatible devices and telecom service usage.

Glahn says that users will benefit from greater choice among applications: ”There will be benefits for the whole industry, for all players in the ecosystem, which is something that is very good for the developer community.”

Unlike the first version of MSA (specified in JSR-248), MSA 2 does not only cover Java feature phones (CLDC phones), but also more advanced phones (CDC phones). MSA 2 will specify three different sets of API – a limited, a core, and a full set – for different types of phones: from low-end phones to advanced smartphones.

The final draft of a new version of MSA (MSA 2) is being drawn up in Java Specification Request (JSR) 249 and is expected to be published during the fourth quarter of 2008.

Since MSA 2 will be fully backwards compatible with the already existing MSA 1, Rysä's message was clear: “MSA-compliant devices are already being used, so there is no reason to delay the development of new devices.”

Magnus Olsson, responsible for Java ME standards at Ericsson, and member of the JCP executive committee (EC) for Java ME says that MSA 2 will be better adapted to market needs than MSA 1.

Magnus Olsson

“The MSA initiative learned from past experience that rather than creating a large set of APIs, one-size-fits-all instead adapts to the available set of compelling device features while adding the benefits of reachability into new market segments,” Olsson says.
“A layered set of APIs, on mobile devices previously too limited for MSA, will enable deployment across a significantly increased market segment Feature phones and advanced smartphones will benefit from a consistent set of core APIs that can be extended with additional APIs for specific device features adding capabilities such as location, enhanced multimedia and advanced communication services based on IMS.”

The JSR-281 IMS Services API is included in the MSA, with Ericsson as the specification lead. This API will allow developers to create applications that integrate with IMS networks, which is the telecom industry's preferred standard for delivering converged multimedia services. The JSR work has now been delivered to the JCP (Java Community Process) organization and is set to be presented to the JCP executive committee for final approval.

“JSR-281 has been well received by the industry, and operators have already begun showing an interest in how the new IMS API allows developers to benefit from using IMS,” Olsson says. “The IMS API provides access to a core set of IMS features, which will allow developers to create converged multimedia applications such as presence, push-to-talk and video conferencing without having to deal with the more complex groundwork and underlying details of the IMS technology.”

By Olle Blomberg

Article about the Mobile Service Architecture (first version)

JCP page about JSR-248

JCP page about JSR-249

JCP page about JSR-281