I just read on Macromedia's website where Steve Jobs said that nobody uses java anymore, etc. http://weblogs.macromedia.com/md/archives/2007/01/does_apples_iph.cfm I've been considering getting an Iphone to do stock trading when away from home. Now, I am reluctant to buy an Iphone and am looking at other PDAs. It seems to me that many trading platforms use java, though I wish they didn't. It looks to me like Steve Jobs did not consider that stock traders could be a large group of potential Iphone users/buyers.
Well....the comment was not very specific...I mean someone could say: "No one buys Lincoln cars anymore...they're these big heavyweight ball and chains". Also, don't mention this to the ThinkorSwim.com developers....they've built a very fast and reliable trading platform in Java. The latest Java release which is 6.0 is the fastest ever from what I understand. The only big problem with Java for trading is you can't reliably use macro programs like Winbatch, etc. to automate things or make short-cuts....unlike true Windows apps built in C++ or VB.
It couldn't possibly be that Steve Jobs has his own agenda with iPhone ? It's obviously a stupid and self interested statement. If you want to "automate" Java GUI (Swing) applications there are ways of doing so. If you can program in Java you can use Jemmy from http://www.netbeans.org. I use it for auto login to TWS and it takes just a few lines of code. You could probably use it with one of the scripting languages like Jython or Beanshell if you wanted to. The result is cross platform and doesn't depend on Win32 API etc. There are probably other tools that will also do the same job.
You'll note that the page you were reading those comments on is made possible by Java technology. I think the context of the comments made by Jobs needs to be understood more thoroughly before coming to any blanket conclusions. It sounds as if the intent is to keep the iPhone environment a controlled one and that may mean it is an entirely different beast to a PocketPC PDA for example and therefore not suitable for stock trading applications let alone many other kinds of applications that you would normally find on a PDA. Why?
I would like to know what kind of trading application can work on an iphone. The only possibility I see is to connect to a web site with the real application.
Ask Steve Jobs. Depends on the operating system and whether they publish it's API. If this thing can get 512 mb memory, then it's doable given the API.
Yeah, these secrets about the iphone are a bit weird. But you also need a good processor. And as far as I know it's still unknown what it is. It's even unkown who makes it. I don't know if it's really doable, but if you take a phone with that size, a camera, storage (4 or 8 gigs I believe), and you add good memory and a decent processor then it starts to get quite expensive. Oh, and you need enough power to make it run at least a few hours. Does such a device exist?
Well, after more research about Iphone, I am not impressed with it, and less with Steve Jobs. I was thinking of moving from PC to Apple, but am now reluctant because of Jobs' ignorant statement. Anyhow, it won't be available until this summer, so I'm looking at other PDA's/Smartphones/Blackberrys.