Why? Because apps that you buy now at, say, the iPhone app store will soon be replaced by apps run by the mobile browser. That makes them device-independent too. Or so says Google, who obviously has a pony in this race with their Chrome OS and browser.
They do have a point. While app stores will hardly go away, the future is in the cloud with browser-based software that runs on any mobile device.
Funny.. Sun said that with Java a decade ago, yet Java is not the end-all be all in application programming. There are very few apps that run strictly in Java, and all of them have a VM that’s written in something NOT Java to run in.
That said, Java Mobil is VERY popular in the cellular market, where hardware is not as common as the PC market. If they can get a VM style launcher that can do things almost at machine level speed, they may have a shot. But Sun still hasn’t pulled it off with years of trying. I’m doubting Goggle will get it on it’s first try.