Orange and Vodafone have spent $3m on a useful bargaining chip, by investing in Java phone company SavaJe.

SavaJe is writing a MIDP Java-based platform and says devices will be on the market by the end of the year. The UI reference (http://savaje.com/products/index.html) specifies 220x176 screen devices with no touch screen, an alternative to Nokia's Series 60.

When it launched two years ago, SavaJe also targeted "PDAs, set-top boxes, web-pads, game consoles and internet appliances". Now it's focussed on phones.

The venture arms of Vodafone and Orange have provided the latest top-up: the company has received $29.5 million in funding with the recent Series B round raising $17.5 million.

Danger Inc. has proved that Java phones need not be slow: the Hiptop is a slick and speedy device. Danger developed its own micro-OS to run the VM, an approach that SavaJe has also followed. The company has also licensed ARM's Jazelle accelerator.

"I think you will look at SavaJe as having made a major impact on the wireless marketplace and through that upon wireless computing, not just on mobile phones," wrote (http://savaje.com/developers/discussion/viewMessage.jsp?message=51&thread=14&parent=49&forum=1) CEO Bob Gilkes last September.

When did that happen? ®