Java on Handheld Devices?

superfred queries: "I work for a Java-based software company, and have been tasked with researching Java on handhelds...I've managed to dig up information on which handhelds support Java (most of the major ones do), but what puzzles me, is if any company is actually *using* this for any reason (besides Java-based handhelds/phones). The Palm OS has apparently supported Java since the Palm V, but has anyone written any software to take advantage of it? Are there any major software developers working on Java applications for handhelds? It seems like a great deal of effort has been used in getting Java on these platforms, but nothing's really utilizing it."

Comments

"No one's using it". Know why?

[dmorin]

I was at JavaONE when they gave out hugely discounted Palm V's as a way to promote Java on the Palm. That was years ago. People still aren't writing lots of apps for it (I have heard about some dedicated, internal applications where you can give your people a pre-configured Palm w/Java). Know why I think that is? Why hasn't Palm managed to put the JVM into the machine by default? If the device was inherently able to run Java, and I could just send out JAR files, I think it would be a huge win because your typical customer doesn't really care about the difference between an executable, a data file, an interpreted bytecode, etc... But if for any application I want to make I have to include a whole lot of junk that is just going to confuse them, that stinks. Also, it makes my app smaller. Imagine the subliminal message that's sent out when you say "In order to run my 100k program you need to download and install this 5 meg program." (sizes made up, of course). It makes people think that your program is tiny, and that this other "support" code thingie is going to be wasting all of your precious memory.

I wonder if the introduction of Java as a supported development platform for Palm would help them with market share? I mean it's not like there's a shortage of applications for the Palm now. What's the big hook from Palm's perspective to do this? I can understand why I as a Java programmer want it, but why would Palm care?