Missing J2ME

Mobile Java is a similar case. After the iPhone was introduced, article writers mentioned en masse that it lacked support for J2ME, mobile Java. Few people noticed this in reviews. There was little reason to note its absence. J2ME is still a proprietary technology, even though it is pushing somewhat toward open source.

The question is why use J2ME. For mobile phones that do not have their own open operating system, it is the only way to run another program. The portability of programs between individual phones is minimal, and between phone manufacturers it is practically zero. As an application developer, you have to create dozens of application ports, and that’s no joke. Apple decided that rather than supporting a proprietary technology that everyone would have to modify their programs for anyway, it would be easier to offer a powerful web interface for online applications, or the powerful Apple Cocoa Touch version for native applications. Given the security limitations of J2ME, porting J2ME to the iPhone would not benefit either customers or Apple. This way, the company profits from its own, already established ecosystem, with which many developers have experience and which Apple has under its thumb.

In the case of mobile Java, we can safely say that Apple’s disregard for it has effectively condemned it to death. In five years, no one will remember that it was once an integral part of every high-end mobile phone. And it is quite likely that mobile Flash will suffer a similar fate.

The context of this story

Missing J2ME

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