As Oracle Becomes Java's Steward, It's Also a Big Player in Mobile Tech

by Sam Dean - Apr. 27, 2009Comments (0)

When Oracle announced its intent to acquire Sun Microsystems, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said "Java is the single most important software we've ever acquired." Since he made that statement, though, there has been a lot of second-guessing regarding Oracle's true intent with Java. The DevXtra Editor's Blog, for example, suggests that as Oracle seeks to get a $1.5 billion contribution to its profits in its first year with Sun, "Oracle may start pulling staff and funding from Sun Java projects that don't immediately contribute to the bottom line or at least show promise of contributing in the near future." While that's possible, I'm more inclined to believe that Oracle will extend much of what Sun has done with Java, and one big reason for that is that Java makes Oracle an important player in the fast-growing market for mobile technology.

One of the reasons that Oracle has to extend Java's capabilities and protect its future is that the company's own Fusion middleware products run on Java. This relationship between Fusion middlware and Java was cited up top in the announcement of the Sun acquisition, with this statement added: "Oracle can now ensure continued innovation and investment in Java technology for the benefit of customers and the Java community." What wasn't mentioned anywhere, though, was JavaME (Micro Edition) .

In a blog post, Funambol's Fabrizio Capobianco makes this point:

"What about the #1 money generator for Sun on the software side? I mean, JavaME, Java on mobile... Sun has made zero dollars (or so) on Java, outside mobile. It is a little secret, but Sun has made a ton of money of JavaME. Ton for my standards, of course. Some might object they could have made more. But they made a lot."

JavaME is on almost every phone, Sun has traditionally gotten revenues from support contracts for it, and there is much work going on on JavaFX mobile applications. In acquiring Sun, Oracle will also acquire quite a lot of Java momentum on mobile platforms--a space where it has had nearly no presence in the past. Capobianco says that this is a primary reason why Oracle may invest more in Java development than was ever invested before. We'll see on that, but it would be unfathomable for Oracle to ignore the ubiquity of Java on mobile platforms. I'm betting that the company will invest significantly in JavaME, and I'm hoping that it will preserve an open strategy for JavaFX mobile applications.

Oracle as a key player in mobile technology? Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction.