A Sun-led Java standards group today will announce specifications designed to bring Java's write-once run-anywhere promise closer to reality for wireless handsets.
Sun and other members of the Java Community Process (JCP), the organization that sets Java standards, will reveal the first fruits of Java Specification Request 185.
Otherwise known as Java Technology for the Wireless Industry (JTWI), JSR 185's primary goal is to put an end to the difficulties that Java developers encounter when trying to deploy J2ME-based applications in the write-once run-anywhere style to which developers for J2ME's siblings--J2SE (Standard Edition) and J2EE (Enterprise Edition)--have grown accustomed. For corporate deployments, this could give end users some breathing room to choose their own devices with which to run or access applications and data from their employers as well as their personal service providers.
As I discussed in a previous column, these development difficulties are the result of the narrow definition of Java for wireless handsets. (The specification consists of JSR 139 -- a Java Virtual Machine based on the Connected Limited Device Configuration -- and JSR 37 -- an enhancement to the CLDC known as the Mobile Information Device Profile.
While this definition gave manufacturers the opportunity to differentiate their offerings, it also resulted in a litany of proprietary extensions, permissible by the JCP, which forced developers to include device-specific source code in their software. This is the antithesis of Java's write-once run-anywhere promise.
In hopes of producing a broader specification that would eliminate the need for so many proprietary extensions, Sun met in May 2002 with a who's who of wireless handset vendors and service providers. JTWI expert group members include Motorola, Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, Siemens AG, Samsung, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, NTT DoCoMo, Vodaphone, Sprint, T-Mobile, Panasonic and Symbian. Sun's role as group leader is, no doubt, an organizational necessity if the company wants to control Java's destiny in the mobile marketplace in the face of stiff competition from Microsoft. The JWTI JSR was formally announced later in 2002.
Theoretically, JWTI will make it easier for J2ME applications to be written once, and run on any handset. According Sun Wireless Java Technologies senior product manager Nicholas Lorain, JTWI doesn't define any new APIs. Instead, it describes how existing JSRs should be combined to form a new handset profile, one with a larger footprint than its predecessor.
"For example," said Lorain, "previously, the handset manufacturers that needed to provide Short Messaging Service (SMS) access to the Java Virtual Machine had to do so with a proprietary API. However, now that a standard way of accessing SMS has been developed by the same group of vendors under the auspices of JSR 120, JTWI will include a recommendation to use the standard API instead of a proprietary interface." Some multimedia formats will be handled the same way.
Lorain told me that JSR 185 also defines a minimum display size and mandates a minimal amount of memory that will be available for applications. Such definitions remind me of the way Microsoft exerts control over the hardware specifications for devices that run its Pocket PC and SmartPhone operating systems.
Lorain admits that the change in memory footprint and the inclusion of additional APIs will likely require buyers to replace current Java-based handsets if they want to be compatible with the broader mobile Java platform that developers are likely to target. In other words, if and when that wave of killer Java applications arrives, you'll need to buy a new phone to run them.
Details on JTWI's rollout should materialize with today's announcement. "The first deliverable," according to Sun Consumer and Mobile System Group senior marketing and business strategy director Juan Dewar, "is a road map for version 1 of JTWI. That will be followed by the specification itself, then a reference implementation, and finally, the technology compatibility kit (TCK) that's used for specification compliance testing."
There's no question that this move was absolutely necessary for Sun to have any chance of seeing mobile Java applications flourish. Microsoft's control over the hardware specifications of its mobile platforms has created a predictable environment upon which developers can depend. Java developers require no less if they're to be assured that their work will be available to the broadest target. With 2003 being a pivotal year in the battle for mobile supremacy between Sun and Microsoft, the question is whether JTWI's introduction will be enough to fend off the Redmond onslaught.
Will the availability of JTWI ease J2ME developer's woes? Are you a J2ME developer considering Microsoft's mobile platforms or vice versa? Share your thoughts using ZDNet's TalkBack below, or write to me at david.berlind@cnet.com.
