Market researcher Venture Development Corp. (VDC) has published a report showing the proliferation of Java in the embedded systems market, especially in consumer electronics and mobile devices such as PDAs and smartphones. VDC predicts that nearly 75 million Java-enabled devices will ship this year, growing to 600 million by 2007. A brief summary appears below.

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Embedded Java isn't just for techies anymore:

VDC research shows widespread use in consumer and mobile devices,
ongoing research in other key markets

Java's success in embedded systems is now all but assured, especially in consumer and handheld devices. “We are at an inflection point where most mid-range and high-end mobile phones include an application environment. That environment is overwhelmingly Java based,” said Chris Lanfear, Manager of VDC's Embedded Software Research Group.

Java phones, PDAs, and other handheld devices have spread from the Asia-Pacific market where they achieved early traction to both Europe and North America. VDC expects over 74 million Java-based devices to be sold in 2003, with most of those being mobile phones. However Java is seeing interest outside the mobile and consumer markets. Office automation and retail automation are starting to see increasing shipments, while significant research and development is ongoing in automotive telematics and even military applications.

Source: Venture Development Corp.

“Like all over-hyped embedded technologies, it has taken longer than expected to see wide spread acceptance of Java,” said VDC's Lanfear. “However, the momentum is now there and consumers, OEMs, and service providers are embracing Java as a mainstream technology.”

VDC's research details the strategies of some of the key technology suppliers including long time Java players Sun Microsystems, Aplix, and IBM. There are also a number of smaller companies that are starting to emerge including esmertec, NewMonics, and Kada Systems.

Report Availability

VDC's new study is entitled, “Java in Embedded Systems.” Findings are based on surveys mailed and e-mailed to developers of embedded systems; interviews of engineers, product managers, vice presidents, and CEOs at leading software vendors and equipment manufacturers; and, extensive secondary research. The report contains dollar volume and unit forecasts for Java virtual machines in embedded applications through 2007, as well as extensive developer and licensee data.

The above chart and summary are copyright © 2003 Venture Development Corp (VDC); all rights reserved; reproduced by LinuxDevices.com with permission.

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