Irrespective of the Flashback and Java vulnerability and that Java is now automatically disabled in the web browser when it is not being used, Apple announced they were deprecating Java.
From Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 3 and 10.5 Update 8 Release Notes:
Java Deprecation
As of the release of Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 3, the Java runtime ported by Apple and that ships with Mac OS X is deprecated. Developers should not rely on the Apple-supplied Java runtime being present in future versions of Mac OS X.
The Java runtime shipping in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, will continue to be supported and maintained through the standard support cycles of those products.
There are other related documents around. Some of the various additional discussions of Java deprecation:
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/11/12Oracle-and-Apple-Announce-OpenJDK-Proj ect-for-Mac-OS-X.html
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20081032-263/java-for-os-x-lion-available-f rom-apple/
The folks from Oracle (the company that bought Sun and now owns Java), the OpenJDK folks, and other groups of developers, are certainly free to fund and to maintain the Java tools on OS X, and within whatever requirements for the language that might have been be established by Oracle. Apple contributed its pieces to OpenJDK, as mentioned above. Apple apparently isn't planning to continue to spend on supporting the language, based on the deprecation notes, though the Flashback vulnerability certainly means they will be spending time and effort and PR on it.
