The term over-the-air provisioning (OTA) describes the ability to download and install content over a wireless network, typically on demand. In this article we'll go over what OTA is, how it works, and how it affects you, for both MIDP 1.0 and MIDP 2.0. We'll also look at the server impacts - how any web site can be used as a download server, and how the new J2EE Client Provisioning specification looks at a high level. Note that even though this article will concentrate on OTA provisioning of applications, specifically Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) applications (MIDlets), some of the concepts covered also apply to the provisioning of other types of content.
