We have contributed applet support (in CVS now). Please read http://www.jmonkeyengine.com/wiki/doku.php?id=writing_a_jme_applet
for details on how to use it.
I get two build errors. The SimpleJME*Applet classes refer to Text.resetFontTexture();
I guess you did not check in a change to the Text class yet?
In now.