I think platform in this argument is meant to mean something users obtain and install apps (or websites) into. The JVM is not a platform really, it's a runtime.

I think platform in this argument is meant to mean something users obtain and install apps (or websites) into. The JVM is not a platform really, it's a runtime. For a while the JRE was sort of a platform because users downloaded it separately, but that hasn't been true for a long time and yet Java is still popular.