Mobile phones are an integral part of daily life—people are using them to replace everything from cameras to cash registers, and increasingly, to access enterprise applications. As a result, IT shops face growing user pressure to get mobile applications up and running quickly. But at the same time, IT leaders want a consistent architecture that allows cross-channel development and deployment across all platforms—Web, mobile, and otherwise.
With Oracle’s mobile platform, built on Oracle Fusion Middleware, companies can empower business users with modern business applications while still delivering choice and flexibility for IT in how they build, integrate, secure, and maintain their mobile infrastructure.
The following are the three primary approaches used for building mobile applications today.
- Build native applications for each device and each operating system. This approach is useful when people need a highly device-specific experience, or when an organization’s development community is skilled in certain device-specific development methods. However, the implications of developing, supporting, and maintaining different applications across a myriad of different operating systems for each device must also be kept in mind.
- Acquire a new mobile development platform. When purchasing a platform that is specifically designed to build mobile applications, it is important to consider the implications of maintaining support for this new platform—as well as finding knowledgeable resources.
- Extend your existing development platform. Developers use the services, programming constructs, and declarative development model that they use for Web-based applications to create mobile applications. This approach may not provide the latest operating system features, but it enables you to leverage your current resources and IT investments.
Instead of forcing companies to choose one approach, Oracle’s mobile platform allows them to mix and match options to fit business needs. The new version of Oracle ADF Mobile - 11.1.2.4 - is now available for download as an extension to the new Oracle JDeveloper 11.1.2.4 from OTN. For mobile developers this release adds some key new features as well as an update to the underling architecture. You can catch a quick video about the new features here.
“When it comes to developing the right enterprise mobility strategy, there is no one right answer. The choices made today will need to shift in the future as business needs change,” says Rimi Bewtra, Oracle’s senior director of product marketing for Oracle Fusion Middleware. “For example, for an enterprise application, it might make sense to extend middleware. But for customer-facing mobile applications you might want to build native applications, so people can use the latest and greatest gestures and features.”
Using Oracle’s mobile platform, IT and business users can work together to
- Extend existing Oracle Fusion Middleware capabilities for new mobile applications
- Excite IT leaders and developers with best-in-class mobile technologies such as framework, integration, and security
- Empower everyone with intuitive mobile business applications
For more information about Oracle’s mobile platform, watch the screencast, “Enable the Mobile Enterprise” and read the Gartner Research Note, The Nexus of Forces: Social, Mobile, Cloud, and Information.
For Developers interested to find out more, you already got the skills you need to be a cross-platform mobile developer. Find out how watching the Webcast: Building Cross-Platform Mobile Apps