Sun fills out mobile Java portfolio

Sun has unveiled a series of enhancements to its mobile Java portfolio at this week's 3GSM event in Cannes.

Java Technology for Smartphones HotSpot Implementation is aimed at delivering "faster and richer" Java mobile client technologies.

This is an implementation of Sun's Java 2 Platform Micro Edition (J2ME), which is optimised to run six times faster than the current reference implementation of J2ME, the company said.

And J2ME web services, available now, will allow J2ME devices "to access web services using XML and Soap protocols," potentially widening its appeal to mobile developers.

Already Java is used in some 1.5 billion devices worldwide, Sun said.

Tom Welsh, a senior consultant at US-based analyst Cutter Consortium, said this is because Java was originally developed for embedded devices, unlike other technologies that vendors seek to drive into mobile handsets.

"The trouble with Microsoft platforms is that they are still based on Windows, which was developed for the PC and so carries around a huge user interface," he said.

"Microsoft is getting blindsided not only by open source, but by devices."

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