Sun planning Java App Store

In a recent blog post, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz spoke about his company's plans to launch a Java app store, which looks set to become something of a cross-platform system - including mobile phones.

With Java as its basis, the huge install base of compatible systems would allow Sun's digital distribution system immediate access to a vast network of users, including desktop PCs and mobile phones.

"As with other app stores, Sun will charge for distribution", says Schwartz. "But unlike other app stores, whose audiences are tiny, measured in the millions or tens of millions, ours will have what we estimate to be approximately a billion users. That’s clearly a lot of traffic, and will position the Java App Store as having just about the world’s largest audience.”

Perhaps a billion users is a tad optimistic, but even a quarter of that number would be an impressive feat. This is also a well established language that a great many developers would presumably be happy to exploit, so the dying mobile platform might be about to get a serious shot in the arm.