The CLDC is a collection of a very small group of Java libraries and is the bare minimum to enable a Java based virtual machine to operate. Primarily for mobile phones and for devices with very limited amounts of memory and having relatively slow processors, when added to one or more profiles, Developers and Programmers can create more robust applications for embedded consumer devices.

For the Palm OS there is a Sun specific KJava profile containing the Java API built on top of the CLDC configuration. The KJava Virtual Machine or KVM, a kernel based infrastructure, accepts the same byte codes and class file format as the classic J2SE virtual machine, in a smaller package.

Connected Device Configuration (CDC)

The CDC includes a full Java VM and encompasses a much larger set of core classes and libraries, up to and including the full Java Platform Standard Edition API. It therefore requires more memory than the CLDC, along with a faster processor. The CDC is in fact a superset of the CLDC and much richer in its offerings and broader in its applications.

A Personal Basis Profile extends the Foundational Profile to incorporate simple Graphic User Interface (GUI) support in an AWT (Abstract Windows Toolkit) with its user-interface widgets. This enables the Profile to take on a Windows or Mac appearance depending on the platform on which it is employed and displayed.