Tira Wireless announced today the support of Android Platform for its Jump 2008 Go Mobile solution. Jump 2008 is an innovative solution to reduce the cost of porting of Java-based mobile application across all mobile handsets. The Tira Wireless device knowledgebase includes 1,253 devices supported representing 44 handset manufacturers, 14,943 unique device/operator combinations, 2,643 devices in physical inventory, and 201 channels (mobile operators, content portals, etc.).

By supporting Android, Tira Wireless partners will be able to convert their applications from JavaME to Android easily. Another porting solution from JavaME to Android is now available after Esmertec and ME4Android. Tira Wireless solution will fit very well for organizations with limited internal development resources or those that require the scalability that Tira Wireless provides.

“Tira Wireless’ move to support Android is in line with our vision to support the major platforms and manage all elements of the mobile content lifecycle, regardless of the device or mobile operator,” said Juan Dewar, CEO of Tira Wireless. “Supporting the Android platform is also a natural extension of the work we have been doing with Java ME applications. Because of our years of experience in this market, we are very well positioned to understand the challenges of developing mobile content in a similar environment, and as a result, can maximize Android’s unique capabilities.”

Tira Wireless customers include Content publishers such Airbone Entertainment, Disney Mobile, Dwango Wireless, I-Play, Warner Bros, Pixiem, THQ Wireless, Dwango Wireless, Hudson Soft, ifone, Jumbuck, Mforma, Mobile Scope, Mobliss, Namco, Sega, SkyZone Entertainment, Sonic Branding Solutions, Sony Pictures Mobile, and Summus; Engineering Services Providers such Babel Media, Mahindra British Telecom, and Absolute Quality; and finally Mobile Operators : Telus, T-Mobile, and Helio.

The GoMobile Edition of the Jump Developer Desktop can be used to commercially deploy a single application on up to 12 handsets. For non-commercial purposes, it is free.

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After the Jbed’s Esmertec solution for JavaME on Android, a new solution have just arrived by Carlos Bazzarella from Poliplus software, called : ME4Android. The solution aims to help developers port their JavaME applications into Android automatically without any single code change, only by making a small modification in the build scripts. The demo Flyer application already available shows the capabilities of ME4Android to run midlets that use the low level user interface API.

Sample Flyer application running on Android

We asked Carlos on full JavaME support for Android and he told us in email “right now ME4Android does not support a complete JavaME stack but in the long run it will, specially when the source code becomes available.”

The good news is that ME4Android will be open sourced with Android, Carlos confirmed to OHM “Since Android will eventually be fully open sourced, I intend to do the same with ME4Android. Actually as soon as Google releases all of their source code, I’ll do the same.”

When asked about Esmertec solution, he told us “I am familiar with Esmertec Jbed and given the fact that it will bean optional commercial component on the free Android platform, you can guarantee that it will not be used much and will never have 100% deployment on Android. ME4Android as a free alternative with complete source code available has absolutely no barriers for adoption and provides the best bridge for JavaME developers to take to Android.”

ME4Android could be the solution for JavaME developers looking for a quick way to get their application running on Android at low cost. Actually they can continue to develop on their own platforms, then just wait for full JavaME support using ME4Android from Poliplus or Jbed from Esmertec. Handset Manufacturers will have to decide on this.

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We used to talk about Android, Google and the OHA without talking in details about the other partners member of the alliance and their participation. Many people who started flirting with Android technology started asking why Google is creating another Java standard (Dalvik) ? why they didn’t use the JavaME Standard? and what about old mobile applications written in the JavaMe standard, will they be supported on Android ?

Esmertec, member of the OHA, got the answer to this question. Beside contributing in the OHA initiative with their OMA applications (MMS, WAP, DRM, SyncML, and IM), Esmertec is also providing a commercial Jbed Virtual Machine (JVM) to member of the Alliance on demand. In other words, you won’t probably have access to JVM, but if you have an mobile application in JavaME standard it will easily run on Android platform thanks to Esmertec.

Esmertec’s JVM will bring easily thousands of existing Java ME applications to the Android mobile platform. So the solution already exist, even commercial, but the question still for Android’s applications and how to port them to JavaMe standard. Write once, use everywhere, isn’t always true, but isn’t impossible too. Anyway there is still someone who will have to make an extra effort to fit with the new situation.

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