Disqus
iPhone apps, BlackBerry apps, Symbian apps, WebOS apps. Everybody seems to be caught up in the whirlwind of hype for mobile applications, but whatever happened to web-apps that can run locally on a smartphone? Back in the dark ages, before Apple launched their uber-successful iPhone AppStore (which spurred an entire industry to follow suit), Apple actually pushed web-apps as the next big thing in smartphone computing. There was even talk of offline storage of web-apps enabling a smartphone user to run a web-app that runs locally, without any wireless connection. Alas, the AppStore has overshadowed the push for native web-apps.
Sometimes referred to as “web applications,” web-apps are custom-formatted web-pages that run in a web browser and, for the most part, act like discreet applications. Since a web-app is coded using standardized web languages, it can be executed on any platform, using just about any mobile web browser. And, that’s where JavaFX Mobile comes in.
JavaFX Mobile is a new run-time technology that allows developers to develop rich internet applications that are truly cross-platform compatible – making it easy to port existing Java apps to the mobile space. Following the Sun recently showed off its JavaFX Mobile run-time at the company’s JAVOne conference. What you see below is a video demonstration of JavaFX Mobile executing native Java applications on an HTC Touch Diamond.
The JavaFX Phone from Matthew Sacks on Vimeo.
With a little more baking-time, JavaFX Mobile should bring some interesting mobile apps to market.
About The Author
Will Park
Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...
