Thursday July 10, 2008 A wise fool ponders iPhone's lack of Java ME tech
The guys at Motley Fool love to rag on Sun Microsystems stock price in general (eh, who can blame 'em?). But, sometimes they hit the nail on the head, like with their analysis of Apple's resistance to put Java ME technology on the Apple, Inc. iPhone. See: Motley Fool ponders Apple's lack of Java ME Here's a quote: While there's been plenty of buzz about the new features of the next- generation Apple, Inc. iPhone, there's also been a lot of talk about what the device still lacks. ... Apple, Inc.'s hesitance bucks the trend followed by just about every other mobile device maker. Nokia and Motorola have long embraced Java as a means to get advanced capabilities plugged into their devices, making phones more than just, well, phones.Yes, that's a Motley Wise analysis. Java ME technology does make a cell phone more than just a cell phone. Hearing that makes me want to join the Motley Crew... :-) I wonder if I need to have big 80's hair to do that?
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Hinkmond
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I think you are confused. There are more than 500 applications available in the iPhone store (and who knows how many more elsewhere), so it seems to be doing fine without Java (especially Java ME, which is pretty much only good at games but useless when it comes to actually interacting with the interesting pieces of your phone, such as GPS or accelerometer).
You should really open up your mind and be more inclusive, Java ME looks really antiquated now compared to the iPhone SDK and Android.
Posted by x on July 10, 2008 at 02:55 PM PDT #
It's predictable that I get comments from the iPhone fanboys. :-) Gosh, 500 apps vs. hundreds of thousands Java ME apps. Hmmm...
Remember, that I'm just quoting the Motley Fool Web site. I'm not the one who wrote this:
While there's been plenty of buzz
about the new features of the next-
generation Apple, Inc. iPhone,
there's also been a lot of talk
about what the device still lacks.
David Mock, who works for the Motley Fool wrote the above and I simply linked to it.
See: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/07/09/apple-no-java-for-you.aspx
My mind is open. You might want to drop David Mock a line over at the Motley Fool Web site though, since he's the one who says the iPhone is "lacking".
Hinkmond
Posted by Hinkmond Wong on July 10, 2008 at 03:15 PM PDT #
FYI, I'm not an iPhone fan. I don't have one, don't plan to get one and I think the fact that they use Objective C and not Java sucks. But their SDK is obviously a success and it should be saluted as such.
Yes, Java ME has thousands of applications, 99% of them games. Color me unimpressed. When was last time *you* programmed in Java ME, seriously? What did you do with it?
Then again, your blog is not particularly known to be objective, so I'm not exactly surprised.
I'm a Java fan and for me, Android has the best of both worlds: it's in Java, has none of the silly Java ME restrictions and it runs on smart phones. Can't wait.
Posted by x on July 10, 2008 at 03:35 PM PDT #
Last Java ME app I programmed was to test out access a TomTom Navigator connected via Bluetooth to an HTC Mogul using JSR 179, Location API for Java ME. Hmmm... That would be a GPS Java ME app. Fancy that!
Last Java ME app that I saw that I didn't write and was really cool (probably because I didn't write it ;-) ) was our port of MIDP onto a phone that shall not be named that used the accelerometer to get from an app screen back to the MIDP AMS home screen. Very cool. That would be an accelerometer Java ME app. Fancy that!
And last cool article I saw in the SJ Mercury News was this one:
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9793600?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com
In it, they say (not me, remember) that Android is hooey and not all that it's cracked up to be. So, be mindful of hype around Android. I'm saying make up your own mind, but keep your eyes open.
Hinkmond
Posted by Hinkmond Wong on July 10, 2008 at 03:52 PM PDT #
Also, be aware that Google Maps and GMail for Mobile are 2 of the hottest Java ME apps out there. Notice they are not games. And, notice Google is the company most benefiting from Java ME in that respect: non-gaming, mapping and mail apps for Mobile Devices.
And, see this URL of Top 10 Java ME apps:
http://jaganath.wordpress.com/2006/11/20/top-10-java-applications-for-your-mobile-phone/
Notice that only 1 is a game. By my calculations, that would make 10% of the Top 10 Java ME apps are games, not 99% as that blogger would put it (remember, not me saying that).
Hinkmond
Posted by Hinkmond Wong on July 10, 2008 at 04:13 PM PDT #