Nokia not behind JavaFX mobile?

[Karsten Silz]

Hello!

The JavaFX Mobile partner page (http://javafx.com/partners/) only
mentions two mobile phone vendors: Sony Ericcson and LG (third and
fifth in global market share for a combined 16.3% - see
http://www.mobileburn.com/news.jsp?Id=6191). I found it odd that
Nokia wasn't mentioned because they are not only the global leader
with 38.6% market share, they are also behind Symbian, a mobile phone
OS that powers smartphones from Nokia and other companies (http://
www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/). They also ship
JavaME on most of their phones.

So today I see that Nokia launches a $10 million fund, together with
Adobe, to develop Flash and AIR applications for desktop, mobile
phones and embedded devices. Flash Player 10 for Smartphones (which
is the equivalent of what runs on desktops) is supposed to ship on
phones in 2010 and is expected to support Android, Windows Mobile and
Nokia S60/Symbian. There's also a new Flash Lite Player (installable
over-the-air and automatically updating. like the desktop player),
again launching on Windows Mobile and Nokia S60. Adobe claims Flash
Lite will have shipped on 1 billion devices by the end of Q1/09 and on
close to 40% of all mobile phones and devices in 2008. Adobe clearly
guns for Sun in the mobile space.

Now there's probably a lot of talks and negotiations going on behind
the scenes, and probably a lot of mobile vendors will ship multiple
runtimes (there are JavaME, JavaFX Mobile, Flash Lite, Flash 10 and
possibly Silverlight Mobile if that ever appears). Case in point:
Samsung and LG are also partners in Adobe's Open Screen Project, so
they may ship Flash Player 10 on their handsets, too (http://
www.openscreenproject.org/partners/current_partners.html). But at
least right now it seems that Nokia throws its weight only behind
Adobe Flash and not behind JavaFX Mobile. If it stays this way this
would be a huge win for Adobe and a huge blow for Sun. Then again,
this may be just a negotiation ploy - Adobe is said to ship Flash Lite/
10 on mobiles for free through the Open Screen Project (http://
www.openscreenproject.org/ - Adobe make money through tools), whereas
Sun supposedly charges for JavaME runtimes (and JavaFX Mobile - see
http://java.sun.com/javame/overview/products.jsp where it says that
the CLDC "product can be bought")), so maybe Nokia just wants to lower
or eliminate license fees to Sun.

[Karsten Silz]

Sorry, forgot the URL for today's news:
http://scobleizer.com/2009/02/15/did-adobe-snub-apple-with-flashplayer-10-and-development-fund-announcements/