Future for Java ME?

[grahamhughes]

People are increasingly asking if Java ME has any future at all. It's losing out to proprietary platorms like iPhone, Android and BlackBerry.

People want Java ME for two main reasons.

1. They like Java. There is a reason why Java has displaced C++ for server applications and many desktop applications. It's cheaper and easier to develop with.

2. They don't want to re-develop for every operating system. With no dominating OS in the mobile space, anyone who wants to make real money has to port their game or application. In spite of its "fragmentation" issues, Java ME has proven much easier to support across OSs than the need for complete re-development.

But there are some major problems, which push people towards other development options.

1. In its MIDP flavour, Java ME no longer cuts it for applications on higher-end, touch screen devices.

2. The sandbox model no longer seems appropriate, in a world where people are able (and happy) to download native applications.

3. The signing nightmare.

Any new standard in Java ME that doesn't address these issues will fail to promote the platform as serious. Java ME will be consigned to three-in-a-row matching games on low end devices.

Perhaps the future lies with Personal Profile Java. It's a well established, yet under-used platform, with a feature set a lot more like J2SE. At least, J2SE of some years ago...

Graham.

[debrah.h48]

There is a lot of confusion about what James Gosling had said about the future of JavaME.

Anyway, I hope we very soon will see more devices supporting JavaME/CDC1.1/FP1.1 + JSR-232 + JSR-249 (but this JSR is not ready yet)!
On that platform it will be possible to add also the old JavaME platform (MIDP2.1 (and of course JSR-248)).

[grahamhughes]

There is a lot of confusion about what James Gosling had said about the future of JavaME.

Is there?

I believe he said:

"We're trying to converge everything to the Java SE specification. Cell phones and TV set-top boxes are growing up."

However, that was back in 2007, and there isn't much sign of it happening. What Sun see as the future, and what device manufacturers see, are not necessarily the same thing. The manufacturers are ultimately in control, not Sun.

Java ME CDC/PP has been around for a long time (especially if you include it's PersonalJava ancestor). PersonalJava was supported by Sun on Windows CE (in it's "Pocket PC" days) and by Nokia and Sony Ericsson on Symbian. CDC/PP was the basis of the SavaJe OS, which Sun acquired back in 2007, supporting Swing for it's UI.

Yet, today, Java developers remain handicapped by MIDP's limitations, even on the highest-end devices like the N97. And Maemo appears devoid of Java support.

Graham.

[sblantipodi]

I would like to listen some more answer to the first post, months passed, things changed, oracle aquired google and nokia seems to push always more on meego that doesn't support javame.

what do you think?

[im2amit]

The feature phone segment in the world market is still around 70% and most of these support Java ME.

HTML 5 or other smartphone OS cant reach to these low end feature phones and hence Java will stay for long.

New technologies will come and go.....but Java Me will stay forever.

[petrib]

I would like to listen some more answer to the first post, months passed, things changed, oracle aquired google and nokia seems to push always more on meego that doesn't support javame.

what do you think?

Oracle acquired Sun, not Google. And there's nothing that prevents device manufacturers, like Nokia, to add Java support to MeeGo (Java isn't part of Linux - MeeGo or otherwise -, or Windows, either, but you can still install Java and use it).

[sblantipodi]

The feature phone segment in the world market is still around 70% and most of these support Java ME.

HTML 5 or other smartphone OS cant reach to these low end feature phones and hence Java will stay for long.

New technologies will come and go.....but Java Me will stay forever.

I hope that you are right, obviously if nothing will move JavaME will be kicked off and it will loose the 70%...
Some times ago JavaME is dominating the mobile world, now is relegated only to feature phones and this is really sad.

@Petrib: Yes I know, I'm thinking that Oracle acquires Sun and that Oracle sued Google when I wrote it :)

[im2amit]

LWUIT gave a real boast to J2me UI layer, hope MIDP 3.0 comes soon.

J2me app's run on almost all Smartphones - Symbian, Windows Mobile, Android with J2me runner and Blackberry (except iphone) along with all feature phones - thus we see that J2me still remains platform of choice any mass market products.

[grahamhughes]

Market share is not a whole picture... smart phone owners download far more apps than feature phone owners. iPhone has become the primary target for mass-market apps, with Android probably now second place. I don't think may mass market developers are targeting Android with J2ME. Android owners expect an iPhone experience, and you don't usually get that from J2ME. Same goes for Windows Mobile (though that might change if WM's market share continues to evapourate). J2ME survives on Symbian, largely because it's well supported, and because native development is still something of a pain in the arse. (It's a pain in the arse on iPhone too, but you have no choice.) On BlackBerry... business app developers can deliver a much better product using the RIM APIs rather than MIDP, and usually do. On both Symbian and BlackBerry, J2ME is becoming the choice tool mainly for casual games and free-to-download apps.

Nokia are promoting native development (Qt) over Java... presumably because they don't feel that Java results in the kind of applications they want to see on Series 60 (iPhone-style apps). Sadly, they're right.

My concern is still that J2ME's failure to advance into the smartphone era will leave us without Java as a vaiable solution on mobile, and force back to the dark days of developing without the modern programming niceties... like garbage collection... Ultimately, Java on mobile is being kept alive now by Android and BlackBerry, with their proprietary APIs... well, at least if I develop for BlackBerry, I can write Java, but I'd rather have a standard...

I don't see MIDP dying in the near future... but it is, undeniably, diminishing. That's fine, but it's taking Java with it...

Graham.

[mohammad_kaied]

I don't know how to run j2me applications on android and Windows mobile?
nowadays more people developing applications for android using android SDK, that means the future is for android!!!

[grahamhughes]

Most Windows Mobile devices are supplied with a Java Runtime pre-installed.

Android devices are source-code compatible with Java, but lack the MIDP API classes. However, it is possible to write a MIDP-on-Android layer, and open source implementations exist. These allow you to "wrap" your MIDP application into an Android application. How approprriate this is, is questionable, and most developers will prefer to use Android's own API.

Android is certainly a big part of the immediate future, but only one part.

Graham.

[sblantipodi]

Android is certainly a big part of the immediate future, but only one part.

Graham.

Hope to can say the same for JavaME.
I'm really disappointed from Oracle, they haven't released any news on that, MIDP3 specification has been released months ago,
where is the SDK?

[ektasrv]

Recently got to know, that Nokia is still selling around 1M S40 devices in the market everyday and as S60 devices also supports j2me as a platform - which means if you want to app to go to mass market and reach out to billions of end user - contiune to develop on J2me... its still the largest market segment.

[sblantipodi]

I will be really really glad to develop on J2ME until there will be phones that supports it.
I hope that oracle will push a new JavaME also on Android/Windows Phone and why not also apple os.

[im2amit]

Symbian ^3 devices support J2me in a great way...