Ellison Mulls Foray Into Netbook Market
Posted on Fri, Jun 05, 2009 @ 07:39 AM
By Ben Worthen
Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Larry Ellison floated the idea that the software company might target mobile devices after its planned acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc., including the small, low-priced computers called netbooks.
The possible focus on the netbook market was touched on in passing during a brief appearance by Mr. Ellison at Sun's annual JavaOne conference in San Francisco Tuesday. Netbooks are the fastest growing part of the personal computer business at the moment.
"I don't see why some of those devices shouldn't come from Sun-Oracle," Mr. Ellison said.
Though an Oracle spokeswoman declined to elaborate, other remarks by Mr. Ellison suggest Oracle would focus on software for netbooks rather than making hardware. He mentioned that some makers of netbooks are using the Android operating system from Google Inc., which is based on Linux but also makes use of the Java programming technology invented by Sun.
Mr. Ellison predicted that there will be Java software on such devices that comes from Oracle as well as Google. "I think you'll see us get very aggressive with Java and developing Java apps for things like telephones and netbooks," he said.
Mr. Ellison has long backed the idea of inexpensive computers whose main value is a connection to the Internet. In the 1990s, for example, he was a prominent backer of low-priced "network computers," an alternative to personal computers that failed to take off.
Analysts said it is too soon to tell what Oracle might do in the netbook field. "My guess is that it was Larry Ellison thinking out loud in a provocative way," said Bill Whyman, an analyst at ISI Group. "But ultimately it could lead to something down the road."
Mr. Ellison mainly focused on trying to reassure the audience -- made up of about 15,000 developers who use Java -- that Oracle would continue to support the software. "I don't expect a lot of changes," he said, adding that Oracle will invest heavily in Java.
He also said he favors using a variant of the technology called JavaFX to upgrade Open Office, a free alternative to spreadsheets and word-processing applications from Microsoft Corp. that Sun has long supported.
Oracle reached a deal to acquire Sun for $7.4 billion in April. Since then, analysts have speculated about whether Oracle will keep Sun's hardware assets, which include server computers and storage devices. Oracle executives have said they intend to stay in the hardware business.