Interview with Jonathan Allin July 2001

Jonathan Allin is lead author of Wireless Java for Symbian Devices. He is also Symbian's Java Technology Manager responsible for Symbian's Java strategy. He is one of a number of people whose role is to ensure that Symbian provides a first class Java platform for wireless information devices. He was also responsible for Symbian's Wireless Java technology training program.

Q: Who is the book aimed at?

The book is aimed at Symbian’s growing community of developers, many of whom are creating services and applications for devices like the Nokia 9210 and 9290 Communicators. This book will appeal to wireless service providers, network operators, and other organizations at the business end of B2C wireless commerce and help them in their decision-making processes. It will also appeal to the many Java developers interested in developing for constrained devices built by Symbian’s licensees, including Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola, Panasonic, Psion, Sony, Kenwood, Sanyo and Siemens.

Q: How did you come to start using Java?

I have a BSc in Electronics from Southampton University in the UK, and a DSc in Biomedical Engineering from the Technion in Israel. My first job was as a residential social worker with severely disabled children, which migrated into designing and building electronic and computerized aids for such children. I was with Acorn Computers for 8 years, helping to develop computers and software for schools and picking up an MBA on the way.

I first became interested in Java technology, particularly in the role that it can play within the enterprise, three years prior to joining Symbian while at Origin BV. This was an opportunity to look at three tier applications such as skills and organization databases, and resource booking systems.

Q: Is there anything special/cool about Java running on Symbian OS?

There are several benefits to running Java on Symbian OS.

Symbian OS is highly integrated, which has major benefits for Java developers: application engines, communications protocols, messaging, and other Symbian OS facilities are available to the Java developer through the PersonalJava and JavaPhone APIs. In the near future Java developers will also have access to Bluetooth and SyncML facilities. The former opens up personal area networks (PANs) and easy access to local services, like printing and ticketing, while the latter will enable task continuity across a user's different devices

You get more out of your Java application on a Symbian OS phone: Symbian OS does not rely on being connected to a network but continues to provide intelligent capabilities even when disconnected. Mobile phones running Symbian OS are not feature phones running micro-browsers but are full hand-portable computing systems, delivering compelling applications

The Java implementation has a tight footprint, taking advantages of Symbian OS's lean and mean philosophy. It's also as robust as Symbian OS, which is itself designed to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Symbian's implementation is fast. Symbian has optimized, and continues to optimize, both the Java virtual machine port and the Java libraries. The result is probably the fastest Java implementation in its class, returning better than 1 Caffeine Mark per MHz. For comparison the Jornada 820, running Windows CE, returns only about 0.13 Caffeine Mark per MHz. And there's more performance to look forward to.

Q: How difficult is it to take Java code developed for other devices and make it work on Symbian OS?

It's straightforward. Not trivial, but straightforward. Porting Java applications is much easier than porting say a C++ application. The APIs are more uniform, simpler, and higher level. However it's not realistic to expect a single Java binary to work across all platforms with different screen sizes and resolutions, and with different user input methods. A well written Java application will separate engine code from UI code, so that the UI code can be easily modified for different devices.

Q: So how easy is it to start creating Java apps for Symbian devices?

If you are already a Java developer, the leap to wireless development is not that large – particularly with the help of the book. There are issues to be aware of, such as coping with the constraints of small devices like mobile phones, however the book takes you through these. Symbian’s Developer Network also supports all developers who develop applications and services for Symbian OS phones. At the moment the Developer Network offers SDKs, access to knowledge bases, technical resources, discussion forums and newsgroups and example code for download.

Symbian licensees are also releasing developer SDKs – Nokia has released an SDK for its 9210 Communicator, the first open platform Symbian OS phone to feature Java. The Nokia 9210 Communicator was released in July. It runs Symbian OS and is the first mobile phone to support PersonalJava and the JavaPhone APIs. The US version, the Nokia 9290 Communicator, is expected to be available during the first half of 2002.

Q: There's a lot of people out there programming in Java already - why should they target Symbian OS?

Symbian OS has the backing of the leading handset makers in the wireless industry. Symbian itself is owned by Nokia, Psion, Ericsson, Panasonic and Motorola and these companies alone sell the vast majority of mobile handsets worldwide. Symbian OS is licensed by these and several other licensees that are using this mobile operating system as their next-generation mobile phone platform.

Q: Are there any chapters in the book that you particularly enjoyed writing?

I think the chapter on optimization is my favorite. You're learning all the time from your own mistakes, and learning from others how things can be done better. You can often get away with poor code on a desktop machine, but the environment on a mobile phone is not so forgiving.

I also enjoyed looking at application security and provisioning, because these are issues which must be resolved for the wireless market to succeed.

Q: What sort of applications do you see being developed for Symbian OS phones?

The opportunity to securely and easily purchase goods or services using a mobile phone is compelling because it is so convenient. This includes ‘hard’ goods such as the weekly shopping, and ‘soft’ goods that can be instantly downloaded such as stock information or music, or services such as banking and personal finance management: the ability to transfer money between accounts, control standing orders, or transfer money to someone else's account. Games and location-based services will also be major drivers and will become more important as packet data networks roll out across the world, allowing ‘always on’ Internet access and people to communicate more easily than ever before. Location-based information will add an extra dimension to commerce, games, and other services.

Q: What is the next generation of mobile computing going to look like?

This is something Symbian and its partners believe will fundamentally change the way we interact with information forever. It is also about companies working together to achieve a wireless networked world. In a keynote speech at Symbian’s Developer Expo last year, Mark Bregman of IBM (which works in partnership with Symbian), put it like this: ‘We may find ourselves no longer waiting to sit down in front of a PC to get access to information. Instead we will have instant access, anywhere at any time, to the information and services that we all want, both as consumers and as workers. It’s a world where devices, such as smartphones, PDAs, set-top boxes, embedded intelligence in your automobile, will all be linked to the network, allowing connection anytime, anywhere, seamlessly, and importantly, transparently. The complexities of the PC world will be relegated to the professionals who manage the network, and not left in the hands of the end user. It will be pervasive; already in many European countries, the wireless telephone has become pervasive to the point where it is more expected that you will have a wireless telephone than a wired telephone. We also see this trend as being global. Countries like China are moving very rapidly to build next generation wireless infrastructure and to adopt advanced function handsets.’

Q: What's the future for Java on Symbian OS?

We want to ensure that Java on Symbian OS provides the functionality and performance needed to deliver rich wireless services and applications, and at the same time maintains compatibility with the mass-market feature phones. The next Symbian OS release is highly optimized: we've paid attention to all potential bottlenecks including graphics and UI, method invocation, and the byte code interpreter. So, for instance, Symbian is the first company to license ARM Jazelle technology software for Java hardware acceleration. In addition, Symbian will be providing a MIDP implementation, so that applications written for small devices will also run on Symbian OS phones.

Longer term we are extending the functionality available to Java developers, making use of the JCP (the Java Community Process) and driving and implementing JSRs (Java Specification Requests) that are relevant to the wireless market.