Which is the killer app in S60? Well, if you look at the effect on the ecosystem, and what's kept both the Nokia smartphones and pet projects viable, then the inclusion of the J2ME Java environment has to be the one that's saved the company from embarrassment more than once. Here's why...
The N-Gage 'Java' Titles
Nokia's next generation gaming platform appears to have the foundations of a space hopper. If you put aside Nokia's own first party titles, the catalogue of games looks rather thin on the ground for titles that have been specifically written for S60. What's been keeping the big names and major publishers involved in the system (and probably saving the Finns from corporate embarrassment)? Their java games.
Rather than having to code games from a blank sheet of paper, they can take these games, which have had budget already spent on them, been developed and proven themselves out in the field and which only require a small amount of work to be adapted for the N-Gage platform, mostly around higher quality sound samples and the addition of the many ways to score the 1000 N-Gage points that every game must report back to the server.
It also provides to the publisher a comparison of N-Gage sales to regular channel sales. And perhaps that's why they're happy to continue to do Java ports rather than full blown C++ apps. Nevertheless without the big labels participating in the N-Gage platform in some form, it would be decidedly bare in the gaming cupboard.
Big Brands in Ovi
The same goes for the Ovi Store. There may be a big number of applications inside the store, but consumers will gravitate towards games, and the big name titles such as The Sims, Guitar Hero, Need For Speed and others are all there in the store. Not because the developers decided to get something ready for the Store launching, but because they had a Java version already optimised for the QVGA screens of (most) S60 devices.
Portability and the Symbian C++ Learning Curve
Programming computers is hard. And, even with that caveat, Symbian programming is not that easy – there may be many tools out there, and lots of information, but the architecture and tweaks in the OS to make it suited to a mobile do necessitate a different dialect of C++ for the native programmer. Java is a universal language and, while every device is slightly different, the changes are very very small when compared to the changes from C++ to Symbian C++. There are other developer environments available for S60, but by far and away Java is the most useful.
Partly because the documentation is out there, as are a shed-load of examples, partly because network providers and portals are comfortable with Java apps, and partly because the addressable number of devices out there using Java is a magnitude more than (even) Symbian's base, programs written in Java make a lot more business sense.
Hobbyists find it easier
Arguably the strength of a computing platform can be measured by the number of third party applications available, and that includes the hobbyists and bedroom coders. Given the choice of using free time to get your head round Symbian C++, or Java and the benefits of a widely used language that can use the majority of the smartphone's features and the choice is a no-brainer.
Now that Nokia has provided a single point of contact store, the chances of home grown apps gaining large amounts of traction is increased, and of course the app can be easily tweaked to a vast range of smartphones.
It just works
One of the questions that Steve asks whenever a review is posted on Ovi Gaming is whether the title is Java-based or not. And I tend to not tell him, because to the end user I'm not sure that the language used has nay bearing on an application. If it's well programmed, with a good and responsive UI, and does what you need the application to do, then it's worthwhile.
There's no need for a religious road to Damascus for a certain language if it does what it says on the tin!
-- Ewan Spence, June 2009.