Sun Microsystems is to make available an open-source version of its Java Mobile Edition (ME) technology in a bid to ramp-up development of Java-based mobile applications, reports vnunet.com. The development kit – known as the Light-Weight UI Toolkit (LWUIT) – was unveiled in April this year but is now available to developers as open-source under GPLv2, a standard free software license. “By open-sourcing the LWUIT code, we are enabling mobile developers to quickly and easily create rich, portable interfaces for their applications,” said Craig Gering, Sun’s senior director of embedded Java software. “This software will also help address the mobile industry’s fragmentation issue by enabling developers to create a single interface that will work anywhere Java is found.” 

Sun’s decision to open-source LWUIT seems prompted by the increasing threat posed to Java technology in the mobile space by projects such as Google’s Android and the LiMo Foundation – two open-source mobile development platforms based on Linux – and the Symbian Foundation, the new open-source version of the Symbian platform. Press reports this week – including in the New York Times, yesterday – have claimed that the first Android-based device could be launched in the US within the next couple of months from manufacturer HTC and operator T-Mobile USA.