Sony Ericsson delivers Flash-Java platform

Handset vendor Sony Ericsson has released an SDK (software development kit) for its hybrid technology that bridges the Adobe Flash Lite and Java ME development platforms.

The Project Capuchin SDK and associated APIs aim to make it possible for developers to combine the best attributes of both software stacks to create content-rich mobile applications.

This allows developers to create applications with the clean user interface made familiar by Flash, without sacrificing the feature rich and widely deployed aspects of Java. The new packaging tool makes it possible to package existing Flash Lite content in a MIDlet jar file.

More advanced capabilities will allow Flash Lite technology to handle an entire presentation layer and make it possible to create Java ME applications where some or all UI components are defined in Flash. By wrapping the Flash content in a Java file, the Adobe technology would even be able to access the native properties of the device, something it hasn’t been able to do until now.

As it stands today, the world of mobile development is highly fragmented,” said Kirk Knoernschild, application platform strategies analyst at Burton Group. “Any efforts that reduce this fragmentation should be warmly received by the mobile development community.”

Sony Ericsson’s C905 Cyber-shot phone is the first phone to support the Project Capuchin API. Developers who use the Swf2Jar 1.1 packaging tool will be able to test their applications on the C905 as it comes to market, and further phones as the Sony Ericsson portfolio expands.