Actually there is an API for GPS on the J2ME. It's not specific to GPS but any positioning system (ie its not a NMEA 0183 parser - but a api that can provide positioning based on any device subject to implementation)

http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=179

Funny that the expert group contributing to the upcoming MIDP 3 spec contains practically every handset manufacturer and operator, whereas this idea couldn't even convince one.

http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=271

I thought he was one of the real parents of Java ....

I don't think lack of GPS etc is going to be the only problem. My Java experience is a bit limited, but surely there is a problem with user interface? Much of the point of J2ME was to offer APIs that made sense for devices without mice and keyboards. Standard Swing components just aren't going to cut it, without modification. So Sun need to roll much of the J2ME API into J2SE (or whatever it's called this month). In which case, why not just expand J2ME a bit now that you can buy a phone with a decent processing/memory capacity? Oh, of course, to justify spending all that money on SavaJe.

DISCLAIMER: I still use a nokia with a monochrome display and no GPRS, let alone Java, so I may be talking total balls.

posts like this on the reg always make me smile. i'd hardly call the blackberry 'one rank above the WebApps that the iPhone can run'.

i remember a previous post about savaje stating java just wasn't up to being a mobile os...

This article misses some key points - for example, that the GPS API may not be accessible because a carrier or OEM chooses to make it accessible only if the developer agrees to a particular business model (such a agreeing to charge a fee for the content and share the revenue with the carrier). This is a business decision and not a limitation of Java ME.

For clarification and background information please see my blog:

http://weblogs.java.net/blog/terrencebarr/archive/2007/10/adieu_java_me.html

Nokia actually have an example of using java based location serverices based on JSR-179. It seems to run ok on the N95.

http://tinyurl.com/32xf9k

A couple of things.

Java has a huge fragmentation problem with handset manufacturers and operators each wanting to add their own APIs, libraries and security. If JavaFx is introduced then it will have to coexist happily with J2ME for a good few years (including supplying compatible mobile LCDUI classes). Operators want a platform to deploy single apps and updates accross all phones - it cost them a lot of money to support multiple platforms.

J2ME can do a hell of a lot more than "widget" based apps. There are JSRs for bluetooth, SIP, OpenGL. While a web app can't even draw a graph (how do you draw a line or bezier curve in XHTML?) without getting the server to generate it.

I think James Gosling is generally regarded as the creator/inventor of Java. Last time i checked software isn't made from the DNA leaked from the programmer's finger tips.

As far as I see it. Java is pretty simple as the core language definition which makes it good for re-usable algorithmic code, but further confusing product, segmentation and Java brand seems to be doing more bad than good.

Are google looknig at native for performance, or is it to avoid dabbling in APIs so heavily influenced by the ops?

You use SVG.

@Twm Davies

"I think James Gosling is generally regarded as the creator/inventor of Java. Last time i checked software isn't made from the DNA leaked from the programmer's finger tips."

I think you realise that we are all talking metaphorically here.

My point was that his role was much more direct than "godfather" would imply - indeed, "creator" as you say, or metaphorically, "parent".

@Seán:

You might use SVG on a multi-GB desktop, but we are talking about systems with a few MIPS and a few MB of memory !

It didn't the last time i checked.