Her in Norway most banks have gone together and made a common id system known as "Bank ID" that uses Java. It is used for many online transactions, not just banking. Many can't buy things like movie tickets or online goods without using it.

A total nightmare from a security perspective.

Same system in Sweden unfortunately. Not as widely adopted though (movie tickets, wow...)

Movie tickets, airline ticket, most online stores. Being Java it of course also doesn’t work on mobile phones, pads, etc.

They are starting to roll out a version for mobile phones now, but it requires that your operator supports it and many will need a new sim card so it takes time.

In the meantime if you are out with your friend and you finds out you want to see a movie, you will have to walk to the theater or call a friend with a pc to buy a ticket. You can't just do it online from you iPhone (some movie theaters may have a app for that, but not where I currently live :( ).

It feels especially bad because it wasn't always like this. Before the massive adoption of Bank ID you could do almost anything online from your phone.

The Android version of BankID seems to work well on the sites that has enabled it.

No, you are talking about a different system.

Norway: https://www.bankid.no/

Sweden: http://www.bankid.com/

The Swedish one uses native apps for Windows, Mac and Linux rather than java. Still trivial to attack from a trojan though.. :/

The old applet can be used for that, but it should no longer be included in new JVM releases.