I'm not worried about Java brand permanence, says Jonathan Schwartz

Filed in archive Business on August 31, 2007

Just a couple of days back Sun Microsystems changed its ticker symbol at NASDAQ to Java from the existing SUNW which created a lot of furor leading to lot of comments being bombarded on Jonathan Schwartz blog which forced him to come out with an explanation on this issue since many were not pleased with this decision. Given below are some of the important quotes from his post:

First, I knew ahead of time changing a ticker to which a generation had become accustomed would be hard. And that it'd draw out the cynics (or those whose only memory of the Java platform persists from the its awkward (and slow) beginnings).

We've been driving a lot of changes recently, and change is hard. Every decision has adherents and detractors (from moving to free software, to signing deals with former competitors - even getting rid of styrofoam in our cafeteria). Change is also the primary ingredient in progress. I'm committed to our decision - our ticker, and one of the highest volume equities on NASDAQ, is now JAVA. (And in response to the obvious question, the symbol SUN was unavailable, and plenty of companies name their ticker after their highest value brand, COKE among them.)

Am I worried that the Java platform may not last forever (should you put it on your license plate :-) ? No. It's the single most pervasive technology Sun has ever invented - and the most valuable brand we've ever built. It's one of the few technologies that may outlast the century. I'm not worried about its permanence. Should you infer any change in strategy from the change? None, it was, purely and simply, an opportunity we didn't want to let pass.

Jonathan said that he was not worried about the Java brand permanence but how many of us would agree with it. I might agree with some of the points in his explanation and some not but at the end of the day it is a clear move by Sun to revive the fortunes of Java and build a larger than life brand image for it since it is in the process of being open sourced and the company wants to leave no stone unturned to make the name of Java reckon with just like Windows for Microsoft or iPhone for Apple. I would say it's a good marketing ploy Jonathan but why not take Java and Sun along!!