WHAT KIND OF APPLICATIONS RUN ON A BLACKBERRY?

Now you can't go downloading just any ol' application and think it will install on a BlackBerry. The fact is that only special applications can be loaded and run on your handheld.

You may have seen the acronym J2ME used somewhere in conjunction with BlackBerry before. J2ME stands for Java 2 Micro Edition. It is a standard for Java that is focused on being able to create applications for devices that have small screens, slow processors, and small amounts of memorysuch as handhelds, cell phones, and embedded processors. Basically stuff that's not a full personal computer.

Within the J2ME specification, there are several profiles defined that further refine the specification to a specific class of devices. One of the most common profiles is MIDP, which stands for Mobile Information Device Profile.

BlackBerry handhelds can run applications written with J2ME for MIDP, or midlets as they are commonly called. However a conversion process is required. The conversion process requires a developer tool or help from your BlackBerry Enterprise Server administrator. For these reasons, I will not go over the specifics in this book.

Unfortunately, J2ME and MIDP just don't provide enough details to make the complex applications that many people want. Because of this, Research In Motion (RIM) created a set of BlackBerry-specific extensions to J2ME that provides more functionality and better integration to enable these complex applications. However, applications that use these extensions cannot be used on any other devices. These are true BlackBerry applications because they are written and designed specifically for BlackBerry handhelds.

Generally, you will find that BlackBerry applications are more useful and better looking than pure midlets. There are a lot more midlets than BlackBerry applications though, so a midlet may be the only way to get that specific functionality you are looking for.