After ousting Opera’s popular Opera Mini Web browser from its app store earlier this month, GetJar announced the browser’s return on Thursday. The app was originally tossed out of GetJar’s app store in early March when Opera announced plans to offer an app store of its own. GetJar wasn’t very happy with Opera’s entrance into the space so it banned the app from its catalog, theoretically preventing its users from accessing Opera’s competitive offering. “I’m glad that Opera Mini is back in the GetJar store,” said Mahi de Silva, EVP of Consumer Mobile at Opera Software, in a statement. “We believe Opera should be everywhere and we love the fact that our fans will now be able to download Opera Mini again from GetJar.” GetJar offered no explanation as to why it allowed this new version of Oper’a mobile browser, Opera Mini 6, back into its app store.

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While speaking at the Red Hat Middleware 2020 virtual conference, Google’s Josh Bloch expressed serious concerns over the direction of Oracle’s recently acquired Java platform. Commenting that it has “appeared rudderless for the last few years”, Bloch went on to say that “technical and licensing disputes over the last few years have been highly detrimental. They’ve sapped the energy of the community and caused plenty of bad press.” Although he was clear to underscore the fact that the issues predate the buyout of Sun Microsystems, Bloch challenged Oracle to “take the lead of Java once again.” Specifically, he would like to see Oracle push out newer versions of the platform at a faster pace, make firm commitment to the swift release of Java 7, bolster support for the Java Community Process, and replace the woefully underpowered Java 2 Micro Edition. Bloch doesn’t believe hope is lost for Java and that “Java will remain a dominant platform in the enterprise space”, but if it doesn’t make the changes now, the King will go from having a cold to being gravely ill.

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In with the new, out with the BREW — Sun Microsystems has just announced that Verizon Wireless is among several new partners to jump on the Java bandwagon. The nation’s largest carrier has long used BREW as its mobile platform of choice but times they are a’ changing. Moving forward, VZW will deploy Java Platform Micro Edition-based services and apps. From Sun’s JavaOne conference keynote highlights:

Lowell McAdam, president and CEO of Verizon Wireless, who will outline his company’s strategic decision to deploy Java Platform Micro Edition (Java ME) -based services in its network and offer Java-based services and applications to its subscribers.

While Big Red has not confirmed that Qualcomm’s BREW platform will be phased out, maintaining two separate platforms doesn’t make much sense. Crazier things have definitely happened though, especially where carriers are concerned. We’ll have to wait and see what the future has in store for BREW though we highly doubt anyone would really miss it. Verizon has yet to issue any public statement regarding its Java ME adoption.

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Qik announced on Friday that it has expanded outside the realm of smartphones and will now support J2ME feature phones, a.k.a. non-smartphones. Lucky owners of the following Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones can download an alpha version of the Qik client to test it out:

• Nokia S40 Phones:
  • Nokia 5300
  • Nokia 6300
  • Nokia 6500 classic
  • Nokia 6500 slide
  • Nokia 6555
  • Nokia 8800 Arte
• Sony Ericsson JP-8 Phones:
  • Sony Ericsson K850
  • Sony Ericsson K858
  • Sony Ericsson W890
  • Sony Ericsson W910
  • Sony Ericsson W908
  • Sony Ericsson K660
  • Sony Ericsson G502
  • Sony Ericsson Z750

They are also looking for owners of other Nokia phones to help alpha test and expand Qik even further into the mass market phone arena. Head on over to Qik to get the full list of phones in which they are interested. Happy Qikking!

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Emoze has been a top player in the push email realm for quite a while now. Known for its consistent victories in speed battles with Blackberry, Emoze can likely push new mail to your smartphone faster than any other option on the market. There have been a few drawbacks to the service in the past such as an automatically-added Emoze signature, support for only one email account at a time and handset limitations. The third item mentioned however, has been a point of focus for Emoze in recent history however. Beyond its Symbian support Emoze has added Windows Mobile and even the iPhone to its list of supported devices. As of next month dumb-phone users (sorry guys) will have the ability to push email to their handsets with the speed and efficiency of a smartphone. Made possible with the addition of a java client, Emoze will become one of the most accessible push solutions on the market. The java version will work on a variety of popular handsets from manufacturers like Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia (S40) and will accompany several UI enhancements to all Emoze clients such as new graphics and screen rotation.

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