Will Java go native?

[Chris]

Seeing that more and more developers and companies look for or 
actively develop native languages, I wonder will Java go native 
one day? (Cf. 
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/A97336_01/buslog.102/a83727/jtools5.htm)

Is this Java's only chance to keep up with Go and Rust (and D)? 
Performance is an issue, no matter how fast your processor is, 
Java always lags behind*. And the JVM installation horror is bad 
enough for developers, but for users? Now Java apps are often 
shipped with a version of the JRE included, which smells of 
defeat. If Oracle want to save Java (after so many "unfortunate" 
decisions), will they finally go native? I can see a market for 
that. There are still a lot of Java developers out there, there 
are loads of Java apps, Java has GUI libraries etc.

*Java's sluggish performance was what made me look for 
alternatives in the first place, and I found D.