Is Java ME dead?

[Mayur Somani]

Hi,

Me and my friend are web developers for some time now. We are now moving into game development for cell phones.

Just wanted to know,

1. Is Java ME dead?
2. Will android games be a rage like iPhone in future?
3. Other then iPhone, is there any alternative where we can make good money?

Please help.

Thank you for your time.

[Sathya Srinivasan]

I wouldn't call Java ME as dead - anemic, maybe! Java ME along with its sister specs is quite capable and powerful, but I believe the lack of popularity is due to the heavily fragmented mobile market, with so many phone variations. As Java ME has to cater to the lowest common denominator unlike iPhone, which has only one type of device to support, it seems to be not as useful to the end-user. I don't think it's a problem that can be solved easily though.

With Blackberry adopting Java ME in its newer devices, I think the market is still there, but if you want to make a quick buck right now, iPhone is probably better. Android would definitely be a force to recon in future.

[Tim Holloway]

There's no question that the iPhone is hot. However, whether it will be the assured path to riches for years to come is not entirely certain. It has that Apple charisma, but on the downside, Apple can be very draconian about what you can do with it. For Java experts, this has been a pain, since one of the fundamental limitations is that they forbid installation of programmable environments such as the Java VM. Even a recently-developed Commodore 64 emulator for the iPhone was nixed.

Android is in the ascendent. By 4Q this year, there should be a whole raft of Android phones available, so market prospects look good. It's also possible that since there are fewer restrictions on developing for Android - and more open standards - that the Android platform will attract people who aren't willing to be fenced in Apple-style.

However, JME isn't dead yet. And one of the best things about the Java platform is that obsolescence is a graceful process.