Sun Blew its "iPhone" Java Opportunity to AJAX

Today is US Independence day and I stopped at the Apple store to see the iPhone, and ask questions about the new MacBook Pro. I wanted to see the iPhone in person to learn what I should expect from mobile phone people interaction and feature sets. And I wanted to learn which MacBook Pro model I'll be upgrading to in the next few weeks.

iPhone is beautiful. It is smaller than I expected. Just a little larger than my current Samsung D807. iPhone has a nice feel and the touch keyboard worked very well for my big fingers. iPhone was suprisingly hot - temperature wise - but what mobile Apple device isn't! (The CPU in my PowerBook constantly wants to burn its way through my lap on its return to the molten core of Earth.)

Being a Java and Mac guy I looked for Java on iPhone. Java is no where to be found.

For years I've listened to Jonathan Schwartz, CEO at Sun Microsystems, talk about monetizing its Java investment because of the wide-spread availability of the Java runtime - today on 700 Million mobile phones.

Rumors have it that Apple sold 500,000 iPhones in the past week. While a $500 mobile phone won't be able to keep up that sales rate, I just don't see Blackberry and Windows Mobile-based products in their current state being able to make a long-term run against iPhone. iPhone will be a significant part of the high-end mobile phone marketplace.

So where does that leave Java and Sun? Unfortunately, nowhere. There is no Java on iPhone. iPhone is a gated community and Java is on the outside.

Add to this my experience of developing Java applications - like TestMaker - on Mac OS X and I have to wonder where is Java 6? Unfortunately, an unstable developer-only dont-run-this-in-production release of Java is available. The real Java 6 is months away from release and depends on upgrading the entire operating system. Mac OS X is now the getto for Java 6.

Sun might blame both of these problems on Apple, but I see these as evidence that Sun is blowing its Java opportunity. There is no Java on iPhone, and only a very old alpha-quality release of JDK 6 for my Mac laptop.

I love Apple and Java. I wish Sun would do more to get Java on iPhone and Java 6 on Mac OS X.
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Report: Access Gained to iPhone 1.1.1 Files

By Rob Beschizza
Hackers have gained access to the upgraded iPhone's file system. This feat, if reliably repeatable, marks a major step toward cracking Apple's 1.1.1 update. The Unofficial Apple Weblog is liveblogging its attempts to apply the method, which involves using symbolic links (Unix's equivalent to shortcuts) to confuse the iPhone during upgrade.

Here's the basic outline of the proposed hack:

1. Using ssh: cd /var/root

2. mv Media backup

3. ln -s / Media

4. Upgrade to 1.1.1

5. Upse iphuc to access the changes and hopefully get execute access.

As of 10:30 a.m., however, Erica Sadun is reporting problems getting her SIM card (a "proper" AT&T one) recognized.

UPDATE: She's in! Erica reports gaining full access. Bear in mind that this doesn't unlock the iPhone, allow third-party apps or any other end-user useful thing — but it does lay bare the system for close inspection and manipulation.
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BlackBerry communicates growing rivalry with Apple iPhone

Elizabeth Judge and Marcus Leroux
BlackBerry yesterday threw down the gauntlet to Apple’s iPhone, outlining an aggressive push into the Californian group’s core consumer market after doubling profits and sales.

After sewing up the corporate market for wireless e-mail devices, Research in Motion (RIM), the company behind the BlackBerry, is forging into the high-end individual market.

Second-quarter results from the company, released to Wall Street late on Thursday, revealed its success. For the first time in the North American market, new subscriptions to the service from individuals outstripped those from companies.

The group said that individual consumer subscribers now account for about 30 per cent of its subscription base, which has broken through the 10 million subscriber mark and sent posttax profits in the three months to September 30 to $287.7 million (£140.8 million) – up from $140.2 million a year ago on sales that more than doubled to $1.37 billion, up from $658.5 million a year ago.

Jim Balsillie, co-chief executive of RIM, said: “This outperformance was driven by the strong product cycle we are in the midst of as well as the diversification of our base across multiple geographies and market segments.”

The move to shed its reputation as a work-only tool and appeal to what it has dubbed the “prosumer” market of affluent, style-conscious consumers, was helped by the release of more BlackBerry models, including the Pearl, which is modelled like a traditional mobile handset, and the Curve.

The Ontario-based group has further tailored its products to the consumer by launching them in an array of colours and adding services such as music players, memory cards and cameras. They have long been standard on mobile phones but BlackBerry had regarded them as gimmicks.

The BlackBerry has been given a further boost by photographs of celebrities including Victoria Beckham and Britney Spears using them.

However, the strongest sign of its intentions came with the introduction of new software, BlackBerry Unite, which allows up to five people to share pictures, music and documents. The software will be available free to subscribers.

Ben Wood, of CCS Insight, the telecoms research group, described Unite as the “boldset step so far towards making the BlackBerry a consumer product”.

In addition, rumours have been sweeping the internet that RIM is preparing to launch a BlackBerry with a touch-screen – a key feature of Apple’s iPhone.

The move into this area pitches RIM in direct competition with “converged” device makers including the iPhone – a combined mobile handset, iPod music player and web browser.

RIM could also seek to exploit the alleged weaknesses of the iPhone. Critics in the UK, where it was recently unveiled ahead of a launch next month, complained that it does not offer 3G speeds, making its e-mail and internet capabilities less efficient.

In a further blow for Apple, analysts at Goldman Sachs said RIM has also hinted at relationships with Google and major music companies.
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