The Java Verified program is good news for mBricks partners! The program is about testing of Java ME applications and issuing a certificate/signature after successful test. The Java Verified certificate is widely available (as root certificate on mobile devices) and it may be mandatory to use in the Nokia Ovi Store, see Shai’s blog. Signing applications also makes the user experience much better by reducing security prompts.
The Java Verified certificate is thus tempting, but can prove expensive. The developer must pay to have each application build or configuration, know as a Stock Keeping Unit (SKU), tested individually. Some applications have many SKUs, see Why 25,000 SKUs is good news
mBricks reduces the cost of Java Verified, each mBricks application only has one SKU that runs on all devices. The differences between devices are handled at run time by the mBricks platform.
This is how the Java Verified program defines testing a single application on multiple devices:
1. Single Application Testing (one jad / jar pair)
a) One SKU targeting one device
• The full test criteria is used for the testing.b) One SKU targeting multiple lead devices or multiple device groups.
• A full test is only required on one of the targeted lead devices per device platform. The test house will select which lead device to use.
• The SKU must also be tested on the other targeted lead devices in that platform but only with a reduced number of test cases.
So with mBricks you can get a Java Verified certificate with a minimum of cost, just testing the lead devices (alternative b). I will take one of our demo applications through the process. Stay in touch to see my experience.
Pål Berg, CTO mBricks
