Java and Handhelds, Goodbye Palm

July 22, 2003 - 5:04pm — bmann

So Java is pretty far from its "write once, run anywhere" promise, especially when it comes to handhelds/phones. But, it is the only viable "platform" versus the MS/VBScript/.NET juggernaut.

Russell Beattie seems to agree while responding to an interview with David Nagle of PalmSource:

So that shows you where Palm is when it comes to Java: PDA Profile didn't turn out like they wanted it to and so now they're passing on J2ME. Oof. J2ME's not my favorite, but to pass on it (and Java) wholesale is a real loss. Nagle talks about competing with M$ but then blows off the primary weapon when it comes to Enterprise customers. What does he think, some corporate code jockey is going to write all of their custom code in non-portable C for the PalmOS?

Yep. See ya later Palm. Handhelds will gain the full power of a computer at some point, so the organizer/PIM role that most handhelds are used for today will migrate to phones.

An editor's note at the bottom is particularly interesting -- "until last year, there were no PalmOS-based offerings based on GSM or GPRS technologies"....and all of Europe uses only those technologies.

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Comments

July 23, 2003 - 2:00pm — evan@home.justw...

Nagle is a bit thick

I saw him speak at PalmSource 2001 and he is not a dynamic person. He has some very smart folks below him but he just isn't that great of a leader. I wouldn't doubt that he is missing an opportunity here but him whinging about how Sun is hard to work with means he has to try harder.

Palm, and now by extension PalmSource, has always appeared Java-wary. Do a search for developing Java on a PalmOS device and you won't get much back.

Finally, who the heck is Russell Beattie? He doesn't write all that badly, when not quoting for half an article, but it seems to me that he is just another shingle on the wall of blah-g's.

July 23, 2003 - 8:49pm — GSoo

But,

$Un IS hard to work with. Perhaps better now that their market share is crumbling, but they're so unbelievably arrogant. When I was an ISP we had piles of $Un gear and they still treated us like pond scum, then at NT... you don't even want to know.

July 23, 2003 - 7:29pm — bmann

Who is Russell Beattie?

I don't know where I bumped into him. The bloggerati seem to have anointed him as "that mobile/phone coder guy". I think I found him through my own resources. Seems like a regular guy, except he happens to live in Spain.

Evan -- you, too, could be on the bloggerati list if you posted provocative things filled with swearwords on your pages. :p

If Sun were to nicely support/push the "ends" (i.e. client devices) using Java, I think they'd do a lot better themselves. Palm is at least as guilty here too, but MS divide and conquer strategy has always helped.

July 22, 2003 - 7:03pm — Anonymous