Enterprise computing giant Oracle announced general availability of its Oracle Application Development Framework Mobile, which it said is an “HTML5 and Java-based framework that enables developers to easily build, deploy, and extend enterprise applications for mobile environments, including iOS and Android, from a single code base”.

The company said that based on a “next-generation hybrid mobile development architecture”, ADF Mobile enables developers to increase productivity and protect investments by enabling code reuse through “a flexible, open standards-based architecture”.

Application Development Trends reports that Oracle built the framework in order to simplify its own mobile app development, and that now it has proved its value it is being made available to third parties.

“Oracle's got one of the biggest portfolios of apps out there, and when you consider what it's like to move all of them to multiple mobile devices and keep up with multiple releases of multiple devices… well… things get absolutely insane", Bill Pataky VP of product management for Oracle’s tools and frameworks group, told the publication.

According to Oracle, developers can simplify their application infrastructure through a “common, proven platform that spans server, desktop and mobile applications, and secure mobile applications with end-to-end security and encryption”. It also enables developers to work on consistent cross-platform interfaces using web technologies such as HTML5, JavaScript and CSS, while accessing native device services such as the camera, GPS, and contacts data through the hybrid application architecture.

A lightweight Java Virtual Machine is also embedded to support the application logic written in Java.