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After the release of the software development kit for Apple's iPhone, Sun Microsystems says it's going to enable Java applications to run on the device, InfoWorld is reporting.

Sun will build a Java Virtual Machine (JVM), based on the Java Micro Edition version of the programming language after June of this year. It will be available in the iPhone AppStore. Eric Klein, vice president of Java marketing at Sun, told InfoWorld Friday that although Apple passed on enabling Java on the iPhone, Sun decided to do so anyway after Thursday's SDK unveiling. After combing through the documents for the SDK and seeing nothing that barred it from doing so, Sun decided to go for it.

"We're going to make sure that the JVM offers the Java applications as much access to the native functionality of the iPhone as possible," Klein said.

Java on the iPhone will mean that versions of software, like customer relationship management and other enterprise applications, could be available on the device.

The iPhone certainly is changing things.

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)

From the moment Apple announced iPhone, predictions were rampant that it would be the cell phone that would change the mobile world forever. As it turns out, the "Jesus phone" predictions were a little overblown, but indeed the iPhone has shaken the U.S. cell phone business to its core. And I'm not talking about the hardware side here; rather, I'm referring to the basic structure of the entire industry.

Thursday at the iPhone SDK event, one attendee asked an intriguing question at the end of the program. "What is the relationship with the carrier? Up until now, apps have been released through the carrier." In response, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said: "We have great relationships with our carriers, and we struck a new relationship with our carriers where Apple is responsible for the software on the phone."

It can't be stated enough just how significant that "new relationship" is and just how game changing it is. For much of its life, the process of selling a cell phone in the United States went like this. A manufacturer would introduce a handset and then offer it to a carrier. The interested carrier would test the phone for its network, strip out any features or software it didn't like or want (remember Verizon Wireless's Bluetooth-crippling days?), stamp on its logo and signature user interface, and then sell the phone at a discounted price to lure customers into a contract. Once it made the phone and sold it to the carrier, the manufacturer hardly dealt with it again. For all intents and purposes, the handset became the carrier's property and only the carrier made money off it from that point on. Not only would the carrier have an exclusive on the phone, but also the handset would be locked to that operator's network. And if customers wanted to buy new applications or services, they usually went to the carrier to do so.

roundup
iPhone opens up for business

Click here for complete coverage of Apple's iPhone SDK announcements, which give the hot-shot gadget its entree into Corporate America and even the gaming world.

Sure, I may be oversimplifying things just a bit, but U.S. carriers ran the show on everything from the handset's design and features to its price. It's been that way for a long time and it looked like such a model would last well into the future. That is, until the iPhone came along. From the start, Apple ran this show. The company didn't cede ground to AT&T on the iPhone's design, its features, its interface, or its price. It worked with AT&T to develop the new visual voice mail system, which is unique to the iPhone. Apple even took over the handset activation process and it secured a revenue-sharing agreement where it would earn money every time an iPhone customer signs a contract.

All of this turned the normal carrier-manufacturer relationship on its head, and it's no surprise that Apple, and not AT&T, will be the source for new iPhone software and applications. For a long time, U.S. carriers were fearful of becoming "dumb pipes." In other words, instead of being just a way for customers to access applications and services, they wanted to sell those services themselves. But Apple's entry to the space is changing that. And while customers may be changing one control freak for another, it's definitely a new game.

On a final note, it's also been fascinating to see how the iPhone has caused the federal government to take a new look at phone locking. Though that practice has been entrenched in the industry for years, the hype surrounding AT&T's exclusive on the iPhone drew criticism from members of Congress last summer. And speaking of phone locking, we also have to consider Verizon's surprising announcement in November that it would start unlocking its phones this year. While the iPhone may have nothing to do with Verizon's decision, perhaps Google's Android platform is a more likely suspect, the timing is interesting.

The long-awaited iPhone software development kit, which will be released in June, was finally unveiled Thursday.

And with it came a few applications, developed in a couple weeks by some very high-profile names in tech. Apple demonstrated seven new applications in a variety of categories: business, communications, and games.

• Touch FX: Adds Photo Booth-style effects to a photo using your finger on the iPhone touch screen. Pinch or tap to introduce fun-house mirror style effects.

• Touch Fighter: The first official game for the iPhone, developed by Apple engineers over two weeks. You fly through space and steer by using the iPhone like a pretend control wheel, with both hands on the side.

• Spore: Electronic Arts created a mobile version of the game.

• Salesforce.com management application: Salesforce.com created an application that does more than you can do with its Web-based application. For instance, it can talk to Maps to plot directions to your next appointment, figure out how many more widgets you need to sell to make your quota, and more.

• AIM: AOL made an iPhone version of the instant-messaging service. You can switch between conversations with a swipe of the finger, like if you're scrolling through photos on the iPhone. You can also upload photos from your iPhone to serve as your buddy icon.

• Medical records app: Epocrates, a maker of software for medical professionals built a native iPhone application that can access an SQL database for accessing medical information, pictures of pills, and checking for potentially harmful drug interactions.

• Super Monkey Ball: A game from Sega. A skiing game, where you hurtle down a ramp trying to get bananas, and other things. It uses the accelerometer for control, just like Tough Fighter.

See my colleague Tom Krazit's blow-by-blow chronicling of the event as it unfolded in Cupertino on Thursday morning.

CNET News.com's Tom Krazit contributed to this report.

With the recent admission by Matt Cutts to Stephan Spencer that Google is using Adobe Systems' Search Engine SDK technology, a new set of optimization opportunities opened up.

That fairly definite confirmation of how Google reads text within Flash files makes it possible to create Flash .swf files with some level of search engine optimization.

"It used to be the case that we had our own, home-brew code to pull the text out of Flash, but I think that we have moved to the Search Engine SDK tool that Adobe Macromedia offers," Cutts said. "So my hunch is that most of the search engines will standardize on using that Search Engine SDK tool to pull out the text."

This has long been the suspicion of Flash developers and SEO professionals concerned with .swf files, but to my knowledge, this is the most direct and clear confirmation to date. The implication is simple but important: if Web developers--and specifically Flash developers--have the ability to test .swf files during development for textual SEO parameters, then Flash files can be designed to offer specific text to search engines.

While the concept is simple, the practice may not be. Flash is a complicated multimedia program with tremendous flexibility and many layers of content. Also, parent Flash .swf files can load secondary, child .swf files ad nuaseum, and this is a very popular, load time-friendly technique. The path between viable textual content and the "front" of a given Flash presentation can be very intricate.

There have been tests measuring what sort of text can be discovered by the Search Engine SDK program, much of it dealing with where in a Flash movie it resides, when the text crosses the stage, and what sort of text is most likely to be read. While there may never be absolute rules for optimizing text within a Flash file, now that it is known with fair certainty how Google reads Flash text, more testing is in order.

Well-designed Flash content can be a fantastic user experience. Google may not be pursuing this content, but it certainly has opened the door to the possibility. The ball is in Adobe's court to continue to develop and improve the SDK tool, but this is a great opportunity for Flash designers interested in SEO or for search engine optimizers interested in Flash.

Despite the shortcomings of the current Search Engine SDK software, (it would be nice to see an update, Adobe!), it is quite likely that SEO standards can be developed for dealing with Flash text so that Flash files can "tell" search engines about their content with more clarity.

Is Apple ready to embrace developers for the iPhone?

According to one report Tuesday morning, yes. BusinessWeek cites sources "familiar with the company's plans" who say Apple will officially release a software development kit for the iPhone in early 2008. Those sources say the official announcement could come during Steve Jobs' keynote at the annual Macworld Expo on January 15. Apple could be waiting to release an SDK until after Leopard, the latest version of its Mac OS X operating system, is released. Apple said Tuesday that the official release date is October 26.

The report contains few other concrete details, but an Apple-sanctioned kit will likely be embraced by the developer community that has already created scores of applications for the device without Apple's official blessing.

It could also cut out some of the tension that has sprung up between the iPhone maker and its customers. Apple angered both developers and iPhone owners when it released a software update for the device that either "bricked" it or erased all unauthorized applications in September.