So, you want to explore this new mobile channel. Have a product or service that you want to offer? Great!

Now, you need to decide where to make this product and service available. So many options…

There’s one billion Java-enabled phones on the planet. That’s more than iPhone and Android put together and then some. So, it’s a no brainer. If you want to reach most phone users with your app, build Java apps.

Not.

If one billion Java-phone users download near zero apps, then it makes no sense at all. It’s about the downloads, not number of phones.

Currently, only two platforms have users that look for, browse, download, buy and use apps: iPhone and Android.

Users of Symbian phones, Blackerry, and Windows Mobile have quite a few apps to choose from, but they don’t. Windows Phone 7 users will also have apps to choose from, but currently there are no Windows Phone 7 phones. And when they are released, for some obscure reason, Microsoft will allow users from only a few countries to download apps at all.

Then we have web apps for mobile devices. They are nice and HTML 5 is promising. But there are still no payment mechanism for web apps, and when given a choice between app and browser, the user chooses the app. This might change, but it hasn’t yet.

So, if you want to explore the new mobile channel, focus on apps, downloads and Android and iPhone. This will hold until 2012. At least.