AndroidGuys

At JavaOne earlier this week, Sun announced details for the forthcoming JavaFX Mobile and even demonstrated it with an Android prototype. Targeting multimedia phones, it will be part of a few planned JavaFX stacks due from the company. Typically, most phones running Java rely on the language for user-installed applications. For JavaFX Mobile however, it will have Java running behind everything from the user interface (UI) toolkit to the telephony, media, and browser software. Ideally, you’ll have the same experience with desktops, mobile devices, set-top boxes, and even automobile dashboards.

Although Sun announced JavaFX at last year’s JavaOne, they indicated that the mobile version would be coming first. With competing technologies like Adobe’s AIR and Microsoft’s Silverlight, the desktop version has been bumped up. JavaFX for desktops is expected in the fall of this year with the mobile version due out in spring of ’09.

Rich Green, Sun’s EVP of Software, provided a couple of demonstrations that included the JavaFX Mobile version running on an Android prototype phone. Among the demos were:

• Movie Cloud — a 3D sphere that renders dozens of high-definition videos simultaneously
• Photo Flocker — photo tagging and display software, enabling search by photo tag and providing cascading montage of resulting shots
• The Connected Life — creating RIAs across multiple screens, including Web browser, social network, desktop OS, and mobile phone

According to Green, JavaFX will enable dynamic content, services, and application hybrids and mash-ups across varying platforms. This will make it easier to develop an application once, and then seed the rich internet application (RIA) across different types of devices, known as Write Once, Run Anywhere.

Much like we’ve learned about Adobe’s Flash, Java is already present on nearly every mobile phone out there. According to Sun, Java is built into two billion mobile phones, nine million TVs, and 13 million Blu-ray Disc players. In addition, it powers 91% of desktop browsers. Getting these devices to work together and run the same across the board is the same convergence end-game we expect to see from Android.

Will consumers end up getting confused by all of the RIA’s coming down the road? It’s hard to say. The playing field might not get as crowded as anticipated though. Some might think the Sun’s chances are not as strong as Microsoft and Adobe who have historically proven to have deeper pockets for advertising.