Motorola has reached out to developers with its MotorolaRhoElements web-based application framework in an effort to populate the breeding ground for apps on many of its current devices. The new framework is aligned for the development of web-based applications on Motorola devices running Windows Embedded Handheld (formerly known as Windows Mobile) and Windows Embedded Compact (Win-CE) mobile computers as well as Motorola's recently announced ET1 Android-based enterprise tablet.

RhoElements has been engineered to use the company's own PocketBrowser product, a framework suited to web-based line-of-business applications. Motorola is fairly open about its commercial strategy and has identified applications on existing Windows-based industrial mobile computers as a defined target for this technology. The company wants to see developers using RhoElements to enable the transition from terminal emulation solutions (or legacy browser-based applications), to more powerful and user-friendly web-based applications.

RhoElements is essentially a collection of HTML5, advanced JavaScript, and CSS technologies brought together with support for HTML5 features such as application caching and web storage. Developers can optimize network utilization and enable continuous operation when users temporarily lose connectivity. The new framework exposes web developers to device-level application programming interfaces (APIs) to take advantage of the enterprise-centric features that Motorola insists its mobile computers are full of.

The first version of RhoElements will provide support for the Motorola enterprise tablet (ET1) running the Android operating system and Motorola mobile devices running Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5, Windows Embedded CE 5 and 6, and Windows Embedded Compact 7.

"With the introduction of RhoElements, the acquisition of Rhomobile, and our overall developer tools strategy, Motorola Solutions is helping to position the enterprise mobile computing industry for the future by reducing the impact of operating system disruption and easing the pain of migration from legacy solutions to the next generation of devices and applications in the market," said Suhas Uliyar, chief solutions architect for mobile computing, Motorola Solutions.