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by imperialWicket 4285 days ago
Another huge challenge with J2ME application development is the marketplace options. Most of these are carrier controlled, and you must pass certification tests per carrier, per device in order to make your application available. While some devices/carriers will allow easy J2ME 'side-loading' (never called that in the J2ME world), almost no one does it.

Additionally, most developers are aware that mobile app purchases most often happen immediately after the purchase of a device, and lots of users never buy another app again. This is even more stark a scenario in the J2ME world (particularly in the US - though we make up a small amount of the J2ME devices in use).
1 comments
johansch 4285 days ago
With Opera Mini, we got like 95% of the installs the first five years via our own wap(!)/web site (mini.opera.com/m.opera.com).
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imperialWicket 4285 days ago
That's a meaningful data point, and impressive! Nonetheless, I think Opera is exceptional for a few reasons and for a smaller dev, there's little practicality to J2ME. It's much more difficult to charge for or in your apps, and without a known brand, having your own wap or download site isn't productive because you still won't get much traffic.

I'm really just highlighting that while some of the aspects have allure, many of the challenges that are present in the current 'mobile' (android|iOS) landscape are simply heightened in the j2me world.

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johansch 4285 days ago
Yeah, this is clearly something that only applies before the advent of in phone app stores. Back then word of mouth was the thing. This worked particularly well in developing economies for us with Opera Mini.
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