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05/09/2007: "All my roudy friends have settled down"
Savaje, where ex-tadpole Noel Poore is still listed as SVP of Engineering, and Tadpole's own George Gray (founder, CEO, President of Tadpole Technology, PLC) was once CEO & President, is in the news this morning. They've been acquired by Sun Microsystems, and Sun is demoing a phone based on the FIC Neo1973 (the "OpenMoko" phone).
Quoting this:
The Java Mobile FX software is based on code Sun acquired from Savaje Technologies, a merger completed just last Friday. The Savaje software is a full implementation based on a desktop version of Java. It includes basic applications running on a real-time operating system.
Thereby leveling a gun pointed directly at Apple's iPhone. Is JavaFX Mobile a phoenix rising from the ashes of SavaJe?
Do remember that Sun's own ex-COO/President, Ed Zander is now CEO at Motorola, and that MOT and Apple were once 'partners' in a phone effort, but Apple eventually backed out, and it pissed off Zander enough that he slagged the iPod nano. I'm betting that Scott and Ed still play the occasional round of golf, and that Sun has plans to swat Apple, if not Microsoft, back into the rough in the smartphone space.
It may also be worth remembering at this point that Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt was once VP of Engineering at Sun as well, and he's on Apple's board.
And finally, don't forget that Java (and this new product, JavaFX Mobile) is now Free Software (and Open Source), enabling customization and extension by both developers and end users, while the iPhone is, expressly, closed, especially to Java:
Markoff: “What about all those plugins that live within Safari now, like Flash or like Java or like JavaScript?”
Jobs: “Well, JavaScript’s built into the Phone. Sure.”
Markoff: “And what are you thinking about Flash and Java?”
Jobs: “Java’s not worth building in. Nobody uses Java anymore. It’s this big heavyweight ball and chain.”
Markoff: “Flash?”
Jobs: “Well, you might see that.”
Markoff: “What about YouTube–”
Jobs: “Yeah, YouTube—of course. But you don’t need to have Flash to show YouTube. All you need to do is deal with YouTube. And plus, we could get ‘em to up their video resolution at the same time, by using h.264 instead of the old codec.”
You have to know how much this pissed-off McNealy, Zander and Schmidt, all at once. Schmidt was key in Java's rising, and he probably still loves his baby. Zander is getting forced into a corner, and must be looking for an effective strategy to re-take MOT's once-dominant position in the cellphone handset space, and is likely to trust his golf buddies.
After 25 years at Sun, including 22 years as Sun's CEO, McNealy has to be looking for his swan song. Absolute dominance of the software used on cellphones would do it. If he can manage to corrall MOT and Nokia, he'll have done it.
