Bill Day's Blog

Java for Palm OS Devices

The first time I saw a Palm V, I thought "I want one". The very next thing I thought was "I want one I can program in Java". Several years worth of developments later, I'm finally going to be able to properly bridge the gap between the two.

While we've been able to build and deploy Java applications for Palm OS since the early KVM days, the J2ME runtime itself has always been a separate Palm executable (PRC) that you needed to install first before you could use your J2ME apps. While this is no problem for geeks like me, it fails my "Mother Test" (whereby I measure the simplicity and usefulness of new tech by how intuitive it is or isn't to my intelligent, but non-technical, mother). And so we've waited, and waited, and waited for Palm to see the light and include a J2ME runtime built-in to their shipping environment.

Things are about to change for the better: Palm and IBM recently announced that Palm Tungsten devices will soon ship with an integrated J2ME runtime. With these devices, you won't have to go through the one time installation of the J2ME MIDP runtime: J2ME apps will soon be first class citizens on many Palm devices. And given their expected ship dates later this year, one would assume (IBM, correct me if I'm wrong here) that this runtime will be MIDP 2.0, bringing the latest and greatest Java device APIs to Palm Tungstens everywhere.

At long last, I'll be able to target Java apps at Palm devices knowing they'll pass my "Mother Test".

In spite of this very encouraging development, however, a key question remains: When will all Palm devices, much less all Palm OS based devices, include a built in Java runtime, not just the Tungstens? Time will tell, but my gut says very soon: If they don't, they'll suffer the consequences as J2ME rolls on to the tune of millions of Java developers and hundreds of millions of consumers with Java devices everywhere.

Comments

• Is it Palm or Sun's Fault?

  This is an honest question, not a troll. Things looked *soooo* good in 1999 when the Palm V's were being sold at JavaOne with the KVM preinstalled. It looked like Java on the Palm was going to just keep getting better. But then, nothing.

  What happened? There were two companies involved there. Was it Palm who pulled back or Sun that charged too much money or made it a non-priority? Yes, Palm went into that period where innovation stopped, but what about now with Sun's new push? Why is the new Treo 600 being launched without Java? What about the other new Palms? What happened to the PDA Profile? Palm seems like a perfect partner in the battle against M$ encroachment at all levels, I can't seem to understand why there's not a happy relationship there.

  Something must've happened. From 1999's JavaOne to nothing to Palm Hardware (not PalmSource) installing IBM's J9 instead of a Sun solution. You sorta make it sound like Palm didn't want to play, but like I said, there's two companies involved in getting Java on the Palm. Give us the real scoop.

  To answer the question - I've moved to a Nokia 3650 and the Symbian platform in general because until just recently, it did more than any Palm out there and in part because of its support for Java. We're *all* moving to smart phones, I have no doubt, and Palm will most likely be left with a niche market in PDAs, if that. Despite that, however, I agree with you that it would rock to have Java on every Palm out there.

  The quesiton in my mind is not, why hasn't PalmSource integrated Java, but why hasn't Sun made it happen?

  -Russ

  
  

  Posted by: russellbeattie on July 01, 2003 at 04:02 PM

• RE: Is it Palm or Sun's Fault?
  I guess blame's one of those things that usually needs to be spread around evenly, right? :-)

  Seriously, I've been privy to some of the Sun-Palm discussions over the years, but not in the loop on all of them by any means. What I can say from my perspective, however, is that when Sun has done our best to offer up first the KVM then the CLDC RI including the KVM code for Palm, Inc. to integrate, we've received a lukewarm response at best.

  I attribute a lot of this to that "period where innovation stopped" as you put it...just at the time when we wanted to work with Palm to make their devices the kick butt Java PDAs (and smart phones, and...) that they ought to be, Palm was busy (not?) doing other things.

  Anyway, my dos centavos. I'd love to hear other opinions from people at Palm, Sun, or elsewhere.

  Posted by: billday on July 02, 2003 at 05:39 AM

• MIDP vs. PP or PBP?
  Well 2 years ago this would have really turned my head, but since the Zaurus has made it to market, I'm seeing this as too little too late.
  I've handed now all my palms to the kids do to a lack of Java, and the fact that the Z pricetag (5500) is the cost vs. feature. (I think the 5600 is too much, and while the c7x0 is my dream PDA I just can't accept the $cost). That is where Palm/IBM is going to lose the market with this. No one but us geeks are going to shell out 500-600$ for a PDA just because it has java. And I will not buy it for the fact that it's only Midp. While Midp2.0 is interesting I would rather go to Ajile.com and buy their gameboy cartridge to start playing with the 2.0 spec than drop 2-3 times it's cost to get a bit more functionality. Plus I can get Ajiles product in a couple of weeks verses (maybe) be end of year.

  Sure Sun should have pushed palm a bit, but I think it is now time for Sun to buddy up with Sharp and make sure the Z becomes the alternative to Palm, instead of Wince. Their new PP reference Impl is a great start but it's only available for the 5600 which uses the xscale CPU and the VM doesn't work on the 5500 a strongarm CPU. And since the VM is not open source, no ports are expected. :(

  It's good news, but I wish it could be better.
  Keep up the J2ME blogging! :)
  -Shawn

  Posted by: sfitzjava on July 02, 2003 at 07:30 AM

• RE: Is it Palm or Sun's Fault?
  So, here's a quick question - what are the licensing terms around the MIDP JVM?

  Put another way, is there a simple, unified way for bringing up a Palm device sans JVM to speed?

  One thing I'm a bit leery of is getting into the sort of versioning nightmare one sees with libraries (and even desktop JVMs). For example, let's say I build a game and want to distribute the v2.X JVM. A user installs my game, but the v2.X JVM conflicts/wipes out the v1.X JVM that was used by another application. Worst case, of course, both apps now fail. Later, of course, v3.X of the JVM is shipped with the Palm OS later, and it all gets stabilized, but in the meantime...

  I realize that this is a big issue, not really solved on the desktop (much less Palm), but I was wondering if you have any thoughts on this point. Really, I think the heart of the question revolves around the user experience (single installer for an app) and the developer situation (e.g. licensing issues). But any thoughts on these points would be appreciated. :)
  

  Posted by: wiverson on July 02, 2003 at 01:54 PM

• RE: Is it Palm or Sun's Fault?

  Concerning licensing and redistribution:

  I'm very happy to be an engineer and *not* a lawyer, so that I don't have to muck in the details of all of Sun's licensing tarballs. That said, the MIDP for PalmOS FAQ discusses distribution. Click here to learn more.

  Be sure to specifically refer to the first FAQ entry.
  

  Posted by: billday on July 30, 2003 at 02:29 AM

• PalmOS 5.2.1 and Sun JVM !?
  Hi,

  I am an owner of Palm Tungsten T3. I was very surprised that Sun does not offer a JVM for this mobile device. anyone any idea why Sun does not offer the JVM and IBM does it ?

  Any idea however if Sun will ever provide a jvm version for this device ?

  Regards,
  Stefan

  
  

  Posted by: sp on December 25, 2003 at 01:28 PM

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