Sony Ericsson is hoping to promote improved mobile applications by enabling developers to combine the best of Java and Flash in the same applications, an InfoWorld Daily report said.
Sony Ericsson plans to announce new technology that lets developers combine Adobe's Flash Lite and Java ME into a single Java application.
The combination of the two technologies would allow developers to overcome shortcomings in each technology, said Ulf Wretling, director of Sony Ericsson Developer World.
Java has many application programming interfaces (APIs) that let developers access phone functions like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and secure payments, while Flash lacks some of those hooks, he said.
Flash, however, offers some nice user-interface capabilities compared to Java. Using both, developers can build a game, for example, that uses Flash for the menu and Java for other features. 'They can mix and match,' said Wretling. 'A Java application can utilize graphics and UI components both from Java and from Flash.'
Sony Ericsson plans to release a set of APIs in its software development kit in the second half of this year.
The resulting applications will be treated like typical Java applications within Sony Ericsson's developer platform, and also across the industry by operators that may already have a well-defined system for supporting Java applications.