Java Card 3.0

The Java Card development kit allows you to write code that can run on a smart card. For those that have written code using Java card you will know that the only resemblance to Java is the code style. Almost the entire class library, the garbage collection etc. is different. You also need to understand the APDU format since the coding is done at quite a low level to the smart card.

When writing code for a mobile phone typically the code is written to run on the phone itself. With the Java card technology this code can now run on the SIM card. This has a huge advantage in security since a smart card by nature is very secure. Different portions of the card can only be accessed with certain PIN's and some parts of the card can only be written to when the card is created.

Typically for a mobile banking application the transactions need to be secure. There is no more secure way than signing and encrypting the transaction using a key that is resident on the SIM card. For a SIM browser based application this is typically how it is done, but for an application on running on the phone it is tricky to utilize the SIM cards inherent security.

With Java Card 3.0 it is now possible to write an application using classes and methods that a typical Java developer is used to that can run on the SIM card and to utilize all the security features of the SIM card. This is going to open up the SIM card to a huge group of Java developers to write secure applications.

The specs can be found here http://java.sun.com/products/javacard/3.0/