palmOne today announced the latest release of a developer toolkit that brings
Java 2 Micro Edition support to Treo 600 smartphones, which significantly
expands the capabilities of its product lines for business customers and
developers.
A beta of the new version of IBM's WebSphere Micro Environment Toolkit for
Palm OS Developers, which includes a new high-performance runtime with
support for the latest Java Community Process standards, was released to
developers today through the palmOne PluggedIn developer website.
The toolkit enables developers to target, deploy, and execute their Java
MIDlet applications on palmOne devices, directly alongside native Palm OS
applications. The early-access release allows software developers to design and
test applications that utilize the new standards support and other capabilities
in advance of the end-user runtime release next spring. With support for both
the Treo 600 smartphone and the Tungsten line of handhelds, compelling,
standards-based applications and solutions can now be deployed in a consistent
way to mobile workforces and consumers alike.
With the availability of Java technology, developers can use existing tools,
skill sets, and in some cases code, to create new mobile solutions for palmOne
products, as well as seamlessly deploy existing MIDP applications originally
targeted at other devices with MIDP support. Specifically, the new release
enables support for the Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC) 1.1/
Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) 2.0 Java Specifications. This provides
a Java Powered runtime together with the Treo 600 smartphone's five-way
navigation, along with CDMA/1XRTT and GSM/GPRS network stack support. The
performance of the new runtime is also significantly improved through native ARM
optimization, beating many of the highest published scores on industry-standard
benchmarks such as JBenchmark and MIDPMark.
"With IBM's native ARM Java runtime on the Tungsten handheld and Treo 600
smartphone, we're easily able to develop applications while not sacrificing
speed, functionality or usability," said Jerome Liss, vice president for
development, Digital Dispatcher. "Our flexibility in serving our customers is
also greatly increased -- we can now take full advantage of standards-based
development and deliver applications to our customers on the kind of mobile
device they want -- whether it's a Tungsten C handheld with integrated Wi-Fi or
a Treo 600 smartphone -- without needing to significantly rewrite code or invest
in a new set of tools and training."
Today's announcement reinforces palmOne's commitment to the mobile software
development community. By quickly extending the benefits of the Java developer
community and IBM relationship to the award-winning Treo smartphone product
line, palmOne developers are better equipped to deliver compelling aftermarket
enterprise solutions. The Treo and Tungsten line of products offer a more
diverse set of capabilities and configurations than what the mobile Java
development community has had available from the more traditional handset and
smartphone market. Customers' demand for richer input mechanisms, brighter and
higher-resolution screens, and more storage memory can now be met.
"Delivering Java to the Treo 600 smartphone is just the beginning of the
tremendous benefits the recent merger is bringing to our customers and the
mobile market in general," Joe Sipher, vice president of product and carrier
marketing for palmOne. "We're thrilled to be providing three million plus Java
developers the tools and support necessary to build truly great mobile business
solutions."
"IBM is committed to extending enterprise computing to a range of devices.
Our latest effort with palmOne underscores the importance of embedded Java
technology in enabling devices to better access business applications," said
Craig Hayman, worldwide vice president, Development, IBM Pervasive Computing
Division. "As enterprises look at ways to untether their workforces, the rich
pool of Java developers can use existing skills and resources to bring their
applications to the rapidly growing mobile market in a consistent manner, with
more speed and efficiency."
WebSphere Micro Environment Toolkit for Palm OS Developers is a standalone
developer toolkit for use with any J2ME-compatible development environment, such
as Borland JBuilder, SunONE Studio and Simplicity for Mobile Devices.
In addition, IBM's award-winning WebSphere Studio Device Developer (WSDD) is
now optimized for creating palmOne product-based Java applications. The
Eclipse-based WSDD can integrate with the other WebSphere Studio tools to
provide an end-to-end Java development solution.
Pricing and Availability
Developers can download the no-cost toolkit, both the beta of the MIDP 2.0
toolkit as well as the existing MIDP 1.0 toolkit, from
http://www.palmone.com/java . The MIDP
2.0 runtime is scheduled to be available for both the Treo 600 smartphones and
the Tungsten handheld devices next spring. The runtime license for Treo 600
smartphone users is expected to be available from the Software Connection for
$5.99.
More information on palmOne's Java strategy and activities for developers is
available at http://www.palmone.com/java.
