What technology (Java or PHP) best fit the following context:

• startup, whose employees have to be formed to the technologies (language, frameworks...). They will however have minimum programming knowlegde (they may know PHP or Java), but not necessarily know the frameworks.
• relatively simple web applications (no complex domain logic)
• fast development cycle (quality is required, but is not the main focus)
• website lifecycle : around 1-5 years, with not a lot of evolution once the website is developped
• performance is not crucial (small e-commerce websites, or blogs...). There won't be a huge traffic

The learning curve should not be a problem (I am fairly competent with both technologies and the frameworks associated).

I just want an external advice regarding this choice, given the fact that the future employees should be trained and that this may be a definitive decision for the company. I also won't give my personnal advice about the question.

Which technology is more appropriated for this context (PHP or Java only), and why ?

Originally asked by: Matthieu on Stack Overflow