Javaground adds iPhone to Xpress Suite porting tech

Javaground has announced that it's adding iPhone support to its Xpress Suite development and porting platform, allowing developers to automate the process of turning their J2ME titles into native code for iPhone.

The company says it'll save developers time (and thus money) taking their titles to iPhone.

"The mobile market is shifting from mainly Java and Brew porting to cross-platform porting as evidenced by the rise of the iPhone, Android and Windows Mobile platforms," says CEO Alex Kral.

Javaground says that Xpress Suite can now roll out a single Java build across more than 2,000 handsets, including J2ME, BREW, Android and iPhone.

As ever with this kind of announcement, there's a question of whether it'll encourage developers to think they can just sling their J2ME games onto iPhone and make big money, without taking full advantage of the platform.

That's not Javaground's responsibility, of course - it just provides the technology. But hopefully developers will use it as a starting point, rather than clogging up the App Store with basic Java ports.