iPhone JVM, Flash hacks could face Apple roadblock

Mobile operators took center stage this week in San Francisco (PDF file), talking very frankly at times with the audience, which consisted mainly of developers and snoopers like me.

I will tell all in later post about the presentations, which touched on everything from Sprint WiMax rollout next year and Microsoft explaining its “open operating system approach” to Symbian’s near lock on the smart phone market worldwide.

But first, during the break I had to ask the presenters and attendees a question which probably annoyed them no end.

Question: “Do you think the iPhone can be hacked so that developers can put a Java Virtual Machine and or Flash capability on the device?”

The unanimous answer was, “doubtful.”

The iPhone is targeted at Web developers, not mobile developers, said one developer attendee.

Jared Peterson, director for Sprint Application Developer Program, said Apple could in fact build into the system a way of preventing a Java VM from running on the iPhone, if they wanted.

Peterson also defended Apple to the extent that he said all the vendors say their platform is open to developers but “there are limits.” He pointed out the goal of making sure a developer’s application for location-based services doesn’t impinge on privacy.

I also buttonholed a fellow from Visa, who told me he meets with all of the operators, device makers and operating system designers but hasn’t met with Apple yet. That seemed to be the story with everyone at this conference.

Apple is playing it so close to the vest you might say they think they can go it alone, albeit, with the help of one small operator, AT&T.

I suspect, however, with the direction of mobile applications tilting heavily towards rich media content, Apple will have to change its tune (pardon the near pun) and open its infrastructure up if it wants to add more substantial content to its very glitzy packaging.