Java-based feature phones to get their own app store

Later tonight, Research in Motion is expected to open an app store for BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile will get one before Christmas. Apple has the iTunes App Store, Android has the Android Market, Nokia's got its own Ovi Store. But why should it be limited to smartphones when over 80% of the handsets sold daily are simple feature phones?

That's the same question Everypoint wants to address with its Nemo application development platform. Nemo is a branded app creation platform that provides free cloud services, a mobile runtime and developer environment for application developers interested in making their content available to the Internet-enabled, J2ME-based phone users out there.

Nemo is optimized for Java MIDP 2.x phones with 1.5 MB RAM and a JBenchmark 2.0 score of greater than 125. Such phones are manufactured by Nokia, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, and many more. Motorola in particular has shown an affinity for "the most ubiquitous application platform for mobile devices."

Nemo has been in beta testing since December, and this week released five of the first creations on the platform. The results are not so much like standalone apps, but actually look and feel more like Web gadgets. These apps, and subsequent future releases will be made available to the public as downloads in The Nemo Store, but are currently only available to developers who sign up for the free development and testing program.