Android, Tizen and the End of Java

I wanted to call this piece Life, the Universe and Everything. If you’re an avid sci-fi reader, or you’ve at least read Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, then those words might mean something to you, but this argument is not about the book, or Douglas Adams. Allow me to explain.

When the iPhone was announced, Apple had created another closed ecosystem that runs on just one processor architecture. This was a critical decision from an engineering and design standpoint that allowed for two things. It allowed for Apple to have over-arching control of its platform and 2) permits extreme performance from 3rd-party applications. While I don’t condone closed ecosystems and platform dependence, having application code (Objective-C) built specifically for a device is a boon for mobile performance and most certainly attributes to the success of Apple’s iPhone. That’s not to say that we are doing it wrong, however. Java has been an obvious choice for mobile and has dominated in this space for over 10 years. The range of hardware configurations has narrowed somewhat in that time, but it’s still varied enough that Java continues to dominate in this space. We all need to be able to play Angry Birds, right?

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