Sun unveiled Java Store yesterday at the JavaOne conference - yet another example of playing catch-up. As Java user for more than 10 years now, I think it's a great concept, but can't help but feel that this would've been a great hit probably circa 2004.
It was a time when the Java brand was getting beaten up by almost everyone as being slow and cumbersome compared to native applications. A Java Store with some really good applications would have gone a long way in establishing trust and keeping the web insanity that happened at that time (almost everyone wanted a web app at that time - whether it fit the scenario or not).
Now, it just seems like Java is copying Apple's idea and desparately trying to hold some ground on their own. Given the popularity of iPhone applications and their foray more and more into non-trival application space, they probably are. Sun missed this exact boat a few years back when they introduced J2ME. While half the blame should be shared by the telephone companies that wanted to monopolize the mobile application arena, Sun could've come out with an 'app store' that would've lent a lot of credibility to mobile applications. But they didn't and it was up to Apple to come up with the concept.
I wonder if Sun will get any mileage out of this. I have always felt that Java WebStart was a great concept and probably a very under-appreciated concept within the Java stack and am very happy to see that brought to fore with this initiative. But the question is, "Is it too little, too late?"
2 comments:
Hmm....First signs of Oracle's Sun rise strategy :-)? Maybe, what Sun needs right now is some fresh, aggressive tactics that Oracle is so well known for and perhaps this is all for good....no?
On the other hand, I have heard that people are witholding decisions on Sun servers as they are not too clear on the future strategy that Oracle has in place for Sun...
Nevertheless, I am not too sure if this "Sun store" is going to be of any good to the end customer as such. The normal guy on the street is lured by the Apple store, as they can pretty much associate with iPods/iPhone....But with Sun store, what is the USP to lock-in the customer?
There isn't one and that's my point. It's a little too late to show this. It would've been great around 2004 when Java was being bashed (sometimes fairly and in most cases unfairly) and the .NET comparison was all over the place.
The saving grace is that it puts a spotlight on Java WebStart, which I've always thought to have a lot of potential.
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