Features

SAN JOSE — Apple Computer Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc. and Ericsson Telephone Co. said Tuesday they have teamed up to develop a system for bringing multimedia content such as movie clips to cell phones and other wireless devices. 

Analysts say the three companies are laying their stakes — and jockeying for position against rivals Microsoft Corp. and RealNetworks Inc. — in an emerging market for video applications in wireless services. 

Boosters of the technology envision also cell phone and handheld-computer users sending personalized video clips to each other instead of text messages. 

Dubbed the Ericsson Content Delivery Solution, the system will include Apple’s QuickTime streaming video application, content-distribution software from Sun and wireless infrastructure from Ericsson. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

Under the system, content providers could create video clips using QuickTime and not have to worry about reformatting it to run on different kinds of devices, said Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing. The content would be ready for wireless-network operators to send directly to consumer devices. 

“It’s a bridge from media organizations to the mobile networks,” said Patrick Kane, Ericsson’s vice president of strategic business and alliances. 

Kane said some wireless carriers have already shown interest, and he predicted consumers will see multimedia services offered by the end of the year. 

The cost of those services, however, remains unclear. 

“Are the services going to be affordable for consumers, and will the content be compelling enough so that consumers are willing to pay for it? It’s too early to tell,” said analyst Susan Kevorkian of International Data Corp. 

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On the Net: 

http://www.apple.com 

http://www.sun.com 

http://www.ericsson.com