• MOST READ

• LATEST NEWS

Sun may be distracted by the process of being acquired by Oracle, but it could still be moving more nimbly on the Java front as its software platform becomes the key to pushing the mobile internet experience into mass market phones and developing economies. If a Java-based platform is to fulfil the same role in the midmarket, that the fully blown operating systems do in the smartphone world, it needs a store, and finally Sun has come up with plans for one.

Since Java is the closest thing to a cross-platform system that the mobile world has - and can run on top of full OSs as well as underpinning embedded mobile OSs - a Java App Store has the clear potential to be a unifying force for developers and consumers, and to dwarf the iPhone, Ovi and Android shops.

Sun hopes to drive new business via a Java App Store, wrote CEO Jonathan Schwartz wrote on his blog this week. Sun estimates Java-based applications are already in use on over 4.5bn computers, mobile phones and other gadgets. Although Schwartz appeared to be focusing mainly on PCs for the initial push into stores, the biggest potential clearly lies in the mobile platform, where Apple has achieved a billion downloads from an installed base of only 21m iPhones.

Schwartz describes the boost to business and profile that comes from a formal storefront. "The revenues to Sun [from content distribution deals with firms like Google] were also getting big enough for us to think about building a more formal business around Java's distribution power - to make it available to the entire Java community, not simply one or two search companies on yearly contracts."

The store is currently codenamed Project Vector and aims to make Java applications easier to find and sell. Sun clearly aims to take the role of coordinating, marketing and vetting the store, though since the open sourcing of Java, it may be pushed towards a model closer to that of Android Marketplace, where Google takes a more hands-off approach than Apple or Nokia. More details of the project will be revealed at Sun's JavaOne conference in San Francisco from June 2.

Related Stories

COMMENTS

No comments yet. Be the first to add a comment!

Digital Money: The Convergence of Contactless Card and Mobile Payments

This report examines the emergence of digital money from the perspective of the convergence of card-based proximity payments to the...

Cloudbooks: Market Analysis and Forecasts
This report is based on interviews with device OEMs, retailers and resellers and provides a comprehensive analysis of the new cloudbook...