Sun Microsystems, best know for its creation of Java, recently announced its intention to make a Java Virtual Machine (VM) for the iPhone. Of course, the appeal of Java is that programmers can apparently write an application once and run it on any machine or device that has a Java VM (a virtual environment that runs on a computer which includes the Java runtime, so that the Java code can run).

Unfortunately, as TUAW suggests, Java Virtual Machines on different platforms often require special code (which kind of defeats the purpose). And even more problematic for Mac users is the fact that Java has its own library of UI elements.

Despite these complications, Sun wants to make Java development possible on the iPhone. After the launch of the iPhone SDK, Sun began investigating the possibility of running Java ME (that’s the version of Java optimized for mobile devices) on the iPhone. Of course, this news will please many Java developers and will certainly broaden the horizon for the development of applications created to enhance the educational potentiality of the device.