Snapdragon Smartbooks Expected to Flood the Market with Java Platform

Last week, San Diego-based Qualcomm (News - Alert) and Sun Microsystems announced that they are working together to port the Java programming language to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon ARM processor.

The two firms have confirmed that Sun has successfully ported its Java Platform Standard Edition 6 to machines running on Qualcomm’s processor.

 

Now, Qualcomm is in the process of developing its ARM chipset for netbooks and smartphones. While shipments have yet to commence, the firm has been demonstrating design wins with OEMs, including the Google (News - Alert) Android OS.

This release is expected to optimize Java application performance and power management for Snapdragon-powered smartbooks, helping to push the smartbooks further into the market, reaching new prospects as a result of new capabilities.

The resulting smartbooks are a culmination of nearly a year’s worth of work to port a complete, optimized and standard version of the Java SE platform onto the Snapdragon platform. The implementation of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) has been optimized for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipsets to run more than 32 times faster than earlier Java SE implementations on ARM (News - Alert)-based chipsets.

“We are very pleased to have reached this milestone release,” said Eric Klein, vice president of Java Software Marketing at Sun in a release on Cellular News.

 

“Delivering an optimized Java SE release for this exciting new Qualcomm hardware platform enables customers, developers, and OEM partners to leverage the power of Java and JavaFX software on smartbooks, enjoying consistent access to their Java software content and applications they use at work and at home.

This release also demonstrates Sun's commitment to custom engineering services that provide partners like Qualcomm with quality solutions and rapid time to market,” Klein added.

With these changes to the Snapdragon, the Java SE platform is expected to allow for rich Internet and media with full Web browsing capabilities and longer battery life for the Qualcomm’s smartbook form factor.

On Telcoms.com, James Middleton noted that the explosive growth in the mobile broadband space has been partially stimulated by the burgeoning netbook or ultra mobile PC market. As a result, vendors are sure to find the next niche and lucrative mobile gadget.

Qualcomm is definitely in this mindset, believing it has “hit upon the next big thing by creating a whole new category of device that falls between the high-end smartphone and the netbook,” wrote Middleton.

Senior Vice President of Marketing and Product Development at Qualcomm, Luis Pineda, dubbed the smartbook as the device type that promises “the smartphone experience in a larger form factor,” as quoted in Middleton’s piece.

But will it be a hard sell when netbooks and smartphones are already dominating the market? Sure, there is probably niche available for the smartbook, but is it significant enough to make a permanent category or will it quickly to overcome by other more suitable devices. Only time will tell, but it will be an interesting progress to watch.