Yesterday Rhomobile, which operates the Rhodes open mobile application framework, released a new version (Rhodes 2.0) of the software that includes a range of upgraded enterprise capabilities and bi-directional multimedia. The value proposition behind Rhodes is that it allows developers to write native smartphone apps in HTML or Ruby and deploy them to the full range of smartphone platforms -- and the iPad. 

The press release does a better job than I can summarizing the new features/benefits:

Rhodes 2.0 allows developers to rapidly build native apps for all major smartphones including iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile, Symbian as well as the iPad. Rhodes 2.0, available for free, provides developers with powerful enhancements including faster sync, and optimized native styling for all smartphones and new capabilities including advanced multimedia support and a metadata framework that supports applications with changing underlying schema . . .

New support for bi-directional audio and video streaming allows developers to easily add live audio and video capture and playback capabilities to their smartphone apps. For example, a developer can add the ability to let a user show their system problem using video or images within an IT helpdesk mobile app. Requestec created an app with Rhodes that allows users to audio and video conference right from their iPhone, Windows Mobile or Android smartphone.

Rhodes 2.0 also provides a "metadata framework." The metadata framework allows mobile apps to communicate with backend enterprise systems that have changing schemas. Developers can change a field or attribute in the back-end enterprise application and the change is reflected immediately on the application running on the device. For example, developers can write a CRM app with Rhodes that handles the backend CRM app adding a field such as "mobile phone number" to the definition of a CRM contact.  Resyncing from the app would show customer information with the new field.

The appeal here for developers is obvious, reducing the work that they have to do to deploy their apps on multiple platforms ("write once"). Adobe has been trying to do a version of this with Flash/Air as well, but was blocked of course by Apple. That is now the potential subject of an FTC/DOJ anti-trust inquiry. 

Appcelerator also offers the "write once" proposition.

I asked Rhomobile CEO Adam Blum about restrictions in the new Apple SDK and how that would affect Rhodes. Section 3.3.1 of the Apple developer contract says, "Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs." It thus appears to block the type of cross-platform toolset that Rhodes represents.

Blum said, however, that he believed that it was compliant but others were probably not and would accordingly be barred/penalized.