Appcelerator Titanium platform beta has been released with new mobile functionality that allows developers to use the Web capabilities they already have to develop rich applications for both iPhone and Android mobile devices.

“The smartphone market is set to grow by a CAGR of 19.5% through to 2014 and smartphones will account for 29% of the total global handset market. This represents a huge opportunity for both mobile and web application developers to address this rapidly growing market,” said Adam Leach, principal analyst with Ovum.

With the introduction of Titanium beta, Web developers that lack Objective-C or Java knowledge — the two languages currently required for iPhone and Android development — can still create native apps quickly and easily using the JavaScript, HTML and CSS knowledge they already have. Apps made with Titanium look, function and perform as fully native apps with native UI components, native code compilation, and native access to the device’s storage, multimedia, input, and geo-location APIs.

“Consumers are devouring mobile applications as fast as developers can create them, but the real mobile tidal wave will hit when millions of Web developers are able to write mobile applications without having to learn a new programming language,” said Jeff Haynie, CEO of Appcelerator. “Our commitment is to ensure that Web developers are in the driver’s seat when it comes to taking advantage of these new market opportunities.”

Titanium is licensed under Apache Public License v2. You can download Titanium beta for Mac, Windows and Linux.