Next week, the video game industry will arrive in full at the E3 Expo annual trade show in Los Angeles.

And already, there’s some controversy about what was said.

Or not said.

Implying in a discussion with reporters that “big surprises” were in store for its fans and supporters, the CEO of Nintendo was interpreted as meaning that Nintendo is poised to add some sort of mobile phone functionality to its handheld gaming devices.

The internet tonight is abuzz of talk about the new “Nintendo phone.” One blog I visited even has a “sneak peak” at the device, which is particularly amazing when you consider that the whole idea was blown out of proportion and there, in fact, will be no Nintendo phone.

“Telephony is not in our wheelhouse,” said the head-honcho at Nintendo. “It’s not something I anticipate us getting into.”

On the bright side, however, Nintendo, while not considering a foray into the mobile phone sector, is considering giving its handheld gadgets “always-on wireless connectivity.”

It’s certainly a step in the right direction for the video game giant. But as far as some sort of Super Mario hybrid cellular device, it’s game over.

At least for now.

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Sun Microsystems has plans. Big plans.

After being acquired by Oracle last month for $7.4 billion, Sun will launch a Java application storefront at its JavaOne conference in San Francisco next month.

Although there isn’t much information known about what the Java store will feature or offer, candidate applications “will be submitted via the web, evaluated by Sun for safety and content and presented under free or premium terms to the broad Java audience.”

Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz said the store “promises to build a more formal business around Java’s distribution reach. It’s a network service to connect companies of all sizes and types to the roughly one billion Java users all over the world.”

As with other app stores, Sun will charge for distribution - but unlike other app stores, whose audiences are tiny, measured in the millions or tens of millions, ours will have what we estimate to be approximately a billion users. That’s clearly a lot of traffic, and will position the Java App Store as having just about the world’s largest audience.

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Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) president Laura Marriott resigned today, after three years on the job that saw her increase membership almost 16-fold to 630-plus members.

Ms. Marriott won’t be easy to replace, considering all she’s done for the MMA–and for the mobile marketing industry. Said Richard Saggers, MMA Global and EMEA Chairman, and the head of mobile advertising for Vodafone Group Services: “Under her leadership, the MMA has released a number of critical guidelines to� further cement the future of the mobile marketing industry.”

Indeed, just a few days ago, Mobile Marketing Watch highlighted some of Ms. Marriott’s thoughts regarding her outlook for 2008 as well as her advice for mobile marketing newbies. (Read that post here.)

The MMA said its board will immediately start an executive-level search for a new global president. Ms. Marriott will stay on through the transition period, then will take a President Emeritus position on the MMA Global Board of Advisors. Before that, she’ll presumably be on hand at the MMA’s next Mobile Marketing Forum, to be held June 10-11 in New York, NY.

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Just in case the HD capability on your television has rendered you completely unable to enjoy any video footage of a lesser quality, Aricent, a full-service, full-spectrum communications software company, is coming to the rescue. And the thriving industry of mobile multimedia entertainment may never again be quite the same.

At the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Spain, Aricent announced that it has developed high-definition video and audio encoders and decoders (codecs) for Texas Instruments latest mobile technology.

As a result, mobile customers will be able to use their cell phone as a HD quality player and download high resolution HD content on their phone for playback on an HDTV screen or use the mobile phone as a DVD-quality camcorder recording in high resolution.

According to the official press release, Aricent’s multimedia codecs were designed specifically for TI’s OMAP3430 processor. Aricent’s multimedia software on the processor is designed for multiple mobile platforms like Linux, Symbian and Windows Mobile.

According to Markus Tremmel, worldwide wireless ecosystem manager Texas Instruments, “The next generation of mobile phones will support multimedia features previously available only with high-end consumer electronics. Using the processing power of the OMAP3430 processor, for the first time companies like Aricent are delivering better-than DVD-quality record and playback capabilities for mobile handsets.”

The Aricent high-definition codecs are expected to cultivate a whole new class of mobile multimedia experience. “This software,” says Sajal Gupta, head of products at Aricent, “will allow consumers to record and play high-definition 720p video from their mobile phone, automotive entertainment system or personal media player.”

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If you’re a mobile broadband geek you might want to check out WiMAX World which is set to kick off later this Month in Chicago. I know some folks that I work with that should be attending this thing but I just found out about the show tonight. It’s being billed as the world’s largest Mobile/Wireless Broadband Event focused on WiMAX.

Though this page indicates 3,700 attendees, it’s actually over 4,300 now according to the graphic on the home page. Here’s the WiMAX World conference schedule and you can pick up a free WiMAX World Expo Pass too.

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Speaking of Microsoft Mobile… Next week is the� MEDC Conference in Germany (June 25-26). Here’s the site.

Edit: retagged.

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