Short answers, pulled from the story.
Sun Microsystems released the source code for PhoneME under the GNU General Public License on the 1st of January 2006. This release transformed the proprietary technology into a public resource during the early stages of the mobile market transformation. The decision coincided with the dominance of the Nokia Symbian operating system and the emergence of the iPhone.
PhoneME included a complete Java virtual machine capable of running on Linux, ARM, and Windows processors. The project served as a comprehensive reference implementation that included the Connected Limited Device Configuration and the Mobile Information Device Profile. These capabilities allowed the software to function as the backbone for millions of devices.
PhoneME supported optional packages including the Java APIs for Bluetooth, the Wireless Messaging API, and the Java Mobile Media API. The project also included the Security and Trust Services API for J2ME and the Location API for Java ME. These features enabled wireless peripherals, text messaging, audio playback, and early GPS tracking on devices with limited hardware.
The original PhoneME project website shut down, leaving behind only a ghostly presence in the digital ether. The source code survived in the form of an Apache Subversion repository dump and a converted git version. These archives ensured that the legacy of PhoneME would outlive its corporate parent.
The PhoneME project ended due to the slow and inevitable obsolescence of the Java ME platform itself. The rise of iOS and Android caused the niche market for Java ME devices to shrink significantly. Sun Microsystems, which had been acquired by Oracle in 2010, shifted its focus away from the project.