News

J2ME scores with developers of wireless apps

• By Michael Alexander
• September 14, 2004

The number of developers using J2ME to create applications on wireless platforms has reached new heights, according to Evans Data in its '2004 Wireless Development Survey.' The market researcher canvassed more than 450 wireless developers to find out how many were using J2ME, among other topics.

Forty percent of the survey's respondents use J2ME and 24% are evaluating it. The app's runtime environment is the prime reason for choosing a target platform, according to 27% of participants. Next on the list were physical device, OS and the device's popularity.

In other findings, 30% of developers constructing phones believed software application improvements and the increase in efficiency that came from them could most reduce development costs. However, 17% believe that optimizing the platform and operating system were the best means of reducing construction costs, according to Evans Data.

'J2ME's growth can be directly attributed to widespread adoption of J2ME-capable devices in the consumer marketplace, increasing the demand for custom software. As this market grows, it follows naturally that more developers will create applications targeting this growing audience,' said Jason Kaczor, Evans' wireless analyst. 'Another reason for J2ME's surge -- it's more cost effective to develop J2ME-compliant code once, than to customize or rewrite code for differing devices and operating systems.'

Other findings from the August 2004 survey: 

• Developers' plans for user-initiated applications on the Java platform that allow end users to download, install and execute new applications are well underway, with 40% currently building them and another 19% planning them for next year.
  
• The three top security mechanisms for wireless applications are public key infrastructure (15%), SSL/TLS connections (12%) and user authentication/password protection (11%).
  
• Testing and debugging tools are the second most important weapons in the wireless developers' arsenal, according to 76% of respondents. However, they are the second most unsatisfactory type of tool, with almost a quarter indicating that they need work.

For more information, please go to http://www.evansdata.com/n2/index.shtml