December 16, 2008, 2:23 AM — We all know that Sun has been mewling rather sadly about the absence of Java-enabled apps on the iPhone -- a situation that won't change anytime soon. The reasoning behind this is pretty straightforward: Apple wants to sell iPhone apps via the App Store, because (a) Apple can take a cut of every app sold and (b) it allows Apple to maintain the vice-like grip on the process that it loves so dearly. (Incidentally, that linked article has a hilarious quote from routinely incorrect analyst Rob Enderle, who doesn't seem to grasp the radically different revenue models Apple has set up for Mac and iPhone apps).
Anyhoo, the Java community reaction to this has ranged from the wistful to the full-on sour grapes. Sun J2ME engineer and blogger Hinkmond Wong in particular seems fixated on claiming that the iPhone will fail because there it can't run the gazillions of J2ME apps out there, all sales figures to the contrary. But a sure sign of jealousy is today's announcement of Nemo, a mobile application platform that improves the graphical look and feel of mobile Java apps. This is not particularly exciting, except that the stories about Nemo have "iPhone" plastered all over them -- as in, this is the magic that will turn your crappy-looking J2ME apps into shiny iPhone applications.
As for emulating the total iPhone experience -- well, good luck with that.
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