Sharp, iAnywhere Push Java for Mobile Computing

The two companies on Wednesday announced an alliance to help their developer communities leverage the iAnywhere Solutions m-Business platform with Sharp's new Zaurus SL-5500 Personal Mobile Tool to build Java-based mobile applications. The Zaurus is an enterprise handheld computer that features an embedded Linux operating system along with a Personal Java application development environment. Sharp plans to tap into the 10,000 members of iAnywhere's Java developer community to deploy mobile solutions for the new handheld.

Rob Veitch, director of business development at iAnywhere, says the company will focus on vertical enterprise solutions aimed at industries such as healthcare and retail.

"The maturity of Java for the handheld platform has been a little slow compared to other areas, but we're starting to see incredible interest in Java-based mobile solutions now at the enterprise level," Veitch says.

iAnywhere and Sharp are launching a number of programs for developers and partners to drive Java development on the mobile platform, including pricing discounts, training and resources such as sample code of iAnywhere solutions. In addition, iAnywhere is also offering development versions and periodic software updates of SQL Anywhere Studio, a mobile data management and synchronization solution featured in the m-Business platform.

Veitch says the addition of Linux for the Zaurus SL-5500 will aid in Java development because of the open-source operating system's flexibility and give customers a broader choice of software platforms for handhelds.

"There's going to be a lot of competition in the handheld platform market with Java and Linux, instead of the market falling into a Microsoft monopoly," Veitch says.