How Android Application Development Is Beneficial To Microsoft

By Author: chirag Thumar
Total Articles: 62
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Even though Microsoft is not going to scream it out but deep inside they must be happy about Google's contribution towards Open Handset Alliance. Android development is considered to be quite similar to Java ME and it is a known fact that Java has been Microsoft's biggest competitor. Even though Android application development seems to be similar to Java ME, it is definitely not at all compliant with either Java ME or even Java SE. If one had to put it bluntly, then one will agree Android development is not at all like Java. Even though Android application development is dependent on Java programming, but the virtual machine and the APIs are definitely not in sync with Java SE or Java ME platform.

Microsoft will definitely welcome the forking of Java that Android application development has done and this can be contributed to a number of reasons. First and foremost reason seems to be marketing because Microsoft is aware that Java has built up its reputation on the fact is supports multi-vendor and offers standardization. This has not been the case with Microsoft, which is basically a proprietary platform, but with Android ...
... the whole concept on which Java gained a competitive edge would eventually fade out. The reason being if Android is successful then Java as such would not be implemented on a consistent basis at a basic level.

The second aspect is that Microsoft provides an amazing mobile platform, which is a combination of Windows Mobile and Microsoft .NET Compact Framework. Even though it is proprietary, in nature, one cannot ignore the fact it does offer a power packed platform for creating a suite of Rich Mobile Applications (RMAs). Where Java is concerned even though it offers great functionalities and supports multi-vendor, it is quite fragmented because it is inconsistently deployed across mobile devices. This means that the standard approach of 'write once and run anywhere' would not be application to Java applications across different mobile devices. In case in the long run if Android succeeds and which most Android application development teams do predict then Java ME is bound to loose out on the market.

However, the question that might come to mind is how Java ME losing out on the market will have any kind of impact on Java SE, which is primarily meant for server-side development and desktop. How can mobile platform be a threat to Java SE? Well, the answer lies in the fact that Sun has been thinking of combining Java SE platform with Java ME. This means that in the long run Sun hopes to offer a single platform for all kinds of different computing devices. Even though this seems to be quite a brilliant prospect, on hindsight the one negatives that comes to mind is that Android development would by then grabbed a major part of the market share and segregated the market into Java ME and Android strongholds. Even though Java's biggest strength seems to be uniformity, Android application development might just take away that aspect thereby giving Microsoft more reasons to cheer.

Android development is considered to be quite similar to Java ME and it is a known fact that Java has been Microsoft's biggest competitor. Even though Android application development is dependent on Java programming.