Sun's Java Phone Looks Eerily Familiar

Sun is going off on its own a bit with the recently announced Java-based high-end cell phone. Specifically, the computer giant has come out with Java Mobile FX software, set to work on heavy-duty handsets.The phone and software were showcased at the JavaOne conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, in a presentation by Richard Green, executive vice president for software. The phone itself looks a lot like another recently announced mobile phone from another Silicon Valley computing pioneer. Like that Cupertino-based product, this one isn't ready for prime time.The Sun Java phone will run on software code fresh from Sun's merger with Savaje Technologies. Given that the code is basically in a ready state, we should be seeing this Sun phone sometime later this year. Yet Sun is still in the conversation stage with the companies that will be actually doing the manufacturing, so perhaps 2008 is a more realistic ship year.