Java Reference
In-Depth Information
web surfing once a day
primary camera
primary MP3 player
download music
willing to pay for mobile TV
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
% mobile users
Figure 1.7
Smartphone usage
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Figure 1.7 shows the results of a survey of how people are willing to
use their smartphones. In addition, if we were to ask a random sample
of people in the street what they do regularly, we'd also expect them to
include activities such as playing games, sending text messages, sending
pictures, social networking, checking match scores, finding directions,
watching videos, checking weather or traffic - and annoying other people
on buses.
It is clear that there are many uses for smartphones, most of which
involve downloading mobile content, such as installable applications and
games, purchasing multimedia, such as music, videos, and mobile TV,
or simply downloading web pages while browsing the Internet. 'Content'
is the key word here. A high-end mobile platform cannot exist without
content; in its absence there's nothing that compels the user to buy a
high-end device. Who would buy a fully featured smartphone to make
voice calls and send SMS messages only?
In theory, it is possible to restrict all installable content to that created
using Symbian C++, in order to control where it comes from. That just
results in a 'walled garden', which goes against the principle of Symbian
OS as an open platform, because millions of talented engineers who are
not well-versed in Symbian C++ cannot contribute to the platform and any
existing content not written in Symbian C++ cannot be reused. That would
be unduly limiting, so the Symbian strategy is to enable environments
that maximize third-party developer contributions and content re-use.
Apart from Java ME, the other run-time environments available include
POSIX-compliant C, Flash Lite, Silverlight, Python, Ruby, Web Runtime,
and WidSets.
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So a better question is ”whenshould I use Java ME on a highly powerful
and open environment, such as Symbian OS?”. To work out the answer to
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'WelcometotheSmartphoneLifestyle' by Nigel Clifford CEO of Symbian Ltd, Symbian
Smartphone Show, 2007 keynote address
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developer.symbian.com/main/documentation/runtime environments
