The point of java is that you can program more devices on this planet in this language than with anything else.
Java has penetrated all areas of computing, from embedded (down to chipcards) to mobile, from science to database and web servers.
Java has inherent cross-platform mechanisms for elementary things for which c does not have these (treads), and there are (most of the time free) libraries inferfacing in all directions.
Dynamic, standardized binding to databases and XML makes it extremely easy to persist you data in a well-documented and well-tested structured way.
Java has nearly all language features you could desire.
And last but not least: eclipse is a great free IDE. AMong the free IDEs there is IMHO no combination of language+language tools which boots your productivity for specific tasks as eclipse does.