Oracle’s massive love fest, OpenWorld, has concluded. Mobile was clearly one of the key themes at the conference with everal other vendors announcing new mobile products and features. Oracle led by  announcing three new mobile HTML5-based PeopleSoft apps, Mobile Expenses, Mobile Approvals and Company Directory, on Monday. The apps are available to all PeopleSoft 9.1 customers for no extra licensing cost. Then on Tuesday, Oracle rolled out a new version of Oracle Business Intelligence with a substantially upgraded mobile user experience.

Oracle’s focus on mobile at OpenWorld didn’t end with its product launches. If the product launches didn’t make it clear Oracle is dedicated to mobile, its executive keynotes and sessions did. Larry Ellison, Mark Hurd, Thomas Kurian, Steve Miranda and Chris Leone each took time to emphasize the mobile support in the company’s Fusion Applications. supports  mobile access via the company’s Fusion Tap technology that operates natively on the Apple iPad. The company left no confusion about its applications’ readiness for cloud and mobile computing, and provided insight into future advancements.

Earlier in the month, Oracle purchased SelectMinds, a cloud-based social recruiting platform with several mobile capabilities. The rationale for the deal has largely been attributed to the company’s attempts to expand its cloud and social strategies, but the acquisition also contributed to Oracle mobile reach. The company also introduced a new mobile point-of-service extension for retailers called Oracle Retail Mobile Point-of-Service in September.

Oracle’s recent efforts around mobility are indicative of a larger industry trend. The business need for mobile access is no longer limited to the company intranet and a few sales applications for workers that travel frequently. Mobility is rapidly becoming a core enterprise need. Decision makers at all levels require on demand access to metrics and other information whether they’re in the office or in a client meeting. Workers expect access to all the applications they use wherever they are, from every device. Meeting these expectations is doing more than satisfying workers; it’s driving higher productivity levels.