Apple is now using Gianduia, their own standards based framework, to create Rich Internet Apps instead of Flash.

According to AppleInsider, Apple introduced Gianduia last summer at the World of WebObjects Developer Conference.

Named after an Italian hazelnut chocolate, Gianduia is "essentially is browser-side Cocoa (including CoreData) + WebObjects, written in Javascript by non-js-haters," according to a tweet by developer Jonathan "Wolf" Rentzsch. "Jaw dropped."

After he watched the NDA demo Apple gave at WOWODC last year, Rentzch also tweeted, "Blown away by Gianduia. Cappuccino, SproutCore and JavascriptMVC have serious competition. Serious."

AppleInsider has learned that Apple Retail is already using the framework for several popular services such as the One-to-One program, iPhone reservation system, and its Concierge service for Genius Bar reservations and Personal Shopping.