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Nearly all the mobile heavyweights, apart from Microsoft, use Java heavily in their platforms, but Sun has failed to create much impact under its own brand, ceding the dominant influence in standards processes to Nokia and others. Now it aims to change that, and is rumoured to be working with Samsung on a handset software platform based on FX Mobile. This would be a direct alternative to other systems that use Java, such as Nokia's Series 60 or Motorola/ Sony Ericsson's UIQ, as well as to non-Java contenders like Qualcomm Brew, Apple iPhone and Windows Mobile. Just as Sun seems to be getting really serious about the mobile sector, however, it is planning a major shake-up of the Java product line, which will lead to the elimination of the mobile-specific Java implementation, J2ME.

There are good reasons for this step, even though it flies in the face of the contention by Nokia and other mobile specialists that the peculiarities of the handset still require software architectures that are specifically optimized for mobility and the small screen The counter-argument, from the internet community, is that cellphones are now powerful enough to run almost as full computers, and so the Apple iPhone, for instance, looks architecturally more like a miniature Mac than a large phone. Of course, this debate will lie at the heart of the battle for control of the next generation device - will it be a cut-down PC, in essence, like the Intel UMPC architecture, or still a product specifically tailored for mobile networks, like a Nokia N Series? By converging on standard Java, Sun is throwing its weight behind the former argument, and perhaps burning some bridges with OEM customers who have been among its greatest Java allies. (Of course Nokia spans both camps, with its web services and its internet tablets representing its bid to lead in the UMPC market.)

From Sun's point of view, a unified Java across all clients would increase the benefits Java already promises in terms of cross-platform harmony - a large developer community, economies of scale for Java supporters and the ability to write once and run on a wide variety of devices. This will be important to operators too, as many look to provide internet services, such as music stores, that will work seamlessly across all their subscribers' platforms, including home PCs and media centres and a variety of handhelds. Again, this shows Sun reflecting how the open model of PC software is starting to filter into the mobile world, where traditionally each application has had to be rewritten not only for PCs and handsets, but for each handset model and each operator. With open access and the breakdown of the tethering of the device to the network and contract, the carriers are reluctantly having to adopt a new model, and unifying PC and mobile systems will be a key aspect of that - and one that plays to Java's strengths, provided Java is as harmonized as it always claims to be.

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