Orange serves a global market with operations in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Caribbean. So why are Orange running one of their code camps in the US? "It simple really," explains Steve. "In our current catalog of mobile applications almost half are from developers based in the US."

Since the first code camps in Europe these Orange events have gained a certain kudos. 72 hours of hard core coding. Developers get the opportunity to network with executives and decision makers at Orange and from the sponsoring companies. It is a unique opportunity learn, share and challenge themselves and their peers in the wireless industry.

But why the 72 hour format? "When we first started to plan the Code Camps we realized two things. Developers don't always thrive in the conventional 9 to 5 environment. We also knew we would have developers from several different time zones," says Steve. "Therefore a rigidly timetabled event would not have been of the most benefit to the participants. So we came up with the idea of a 72 hour event, where the facilities and support resources were available any time of the day or night. For our US Code Camp we have hired a firm, which normally caters for film productions, that can provide food and drinks 24 hours a day."

The Code Camp has several goals. Orange wants any application in its catalog to be available to any of its customers, regardless of whether they choose a Symbian OS, Blackberry, Palm, Microsoft or Java phone. So one of the goals of Code Camp is to introduce developers to other operating systems or languages, those they are not already working with. To that end Symbian, Microsoft and Sun have 101 sessions to introduce their technologies to participants.

It is also an opportunity for developers to meet with senior executives from Orange and sponsoring companies including Symbian, Nokia, PalmSource and Microsoft. "For us at Orange these code camps are an ideal opportunity to discuss application ideas with developers. To find out what they are working on and for developer to talk with senior Orange executives and buyers to find out what applications are in demand," says Steve.

Obviously one of the big benefits will be the opportunity for developers to network with peers working on wireless applications, be it on the same or different platforms. Steve believes this makes Code Camp a unique opportunity. "No trade show, with thousand of attendees, offers the same opportunity to get detailed on coding or business challenges," says Steve.

It is the coding that will be king over the three days of the event. Developer will be able to code and test applications with support from Orange and sponsor staff. "We will be setting up an Orange 3G base station and providing access to handsets," says Steve. "So developers will have the opportunity to test applications on Orange handsets in a live Orange network, something US developers don't normally have the opportunity to do from home."

There is still time to book a place at the Florida Code Camp, which runs 18 to 20 April at Sarasote, Florida. When we spoke to Steve he was expecting the last few onsite cabin to be booked within days. Extra accommodation will be made available off-site for everyone interested in attending, if necessary. Attendees must be members of the Orange Partner program, which is free to join at www.orangepartner.com. Registrations for Code Camp can be made through the event web site at http://www.eventreg.com/orange_code_camp/register.html. The best overall product submitted at the Code Camp will also win a Segway Human Transporter.