In 2008 Apple took the idea of a mobile application marketplace and lodged it firmly in the minds of almost every software developer on the planet. The idea wasn’t a new one. Handango started its InHand market in 2003, starting with Symbian apps and later added Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and Palm apps (and Handango was selling mobile apps through the desktop even earlier). I recall using a market in 2004 called the Download Catalog on the T-Mobile Sidekick, powered by software from Andy Rubin’s pre-Android endeavor Danger. And Verizon offered over the air application sales through an app store environment on normal cell phones at least as far back as 2004 as well.

But Apple’s approach struck a vein and lead to an explosion of app stores, with Android, Nokia, RIM and many others following suit. Between the Mac App Store for the OSX desktop and the forthcoming Windows Store for Windows 8 Metro apps, it appears the app store model is here to stay. As a result, many vendors are now taking advantage of this distribution method to sell enterprise software. Meanwhile, other companies are providing ways for enterprises to build their own internal “app stores” for employees.

Vendor Run App Markets

The app store model has the potential to solve a persistent problem for enterprise software. Small, purpose built tools may be able to provide the best solutions for particular problems. Also, different business units or even individual users may have different needs or preferences. But it’s a headache for IT to vet, integrate and deploy too many applications. Historically IT has favored buying large Swiss Army knife style solutions from big vendors like Microsoft and IBM.

The app store model could fix this problem by giving enterprise software users a choice of several pre-vetted, pre-integrated applications. IT could further whittle down the list of installable applications if so desired. Let’s take a look at some of the players.

Salesforce.com AppExchange

As is often the case with the consumerization of IT, there were actually enterprise app stores before the Apple App Store popularized the idea of app stores. In fact, Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff claims to have given away the trademark to the App Store name to Apple.

AppExchange, launched in 2005, is mostly focused on giving third party developers the ability to build and sell integrations with Salesforce.com’s core CRM functionality, rather than platform to run and sell stand-alone applications. But it was an early example, along with SugarCRM’s SugarExchange marketplace and NetSuite’s SuiteApp.com, of an app store for the enterprise.

Google Apps Marketplace

The Google Apps Marketplace, launched in 2010, is perhaps the best known enterprise app store. In addition to providing vendors the chance to integrate with Google Apps, it provides a place to promote and sell other software-as-a-service applications. Zoho, which also has its own marketplace, has embraced the Marketplace to sell its own competing document editing and e-mail SaaS products. But possibly the biggest success story was Manymoon, the project management and collaboration app that sat at or near the position of Google Apps Marketplace and several other enterprise app stores. It sold to Salesforce.com last year and now forms the basis of that company’s Do.com service.

LinkedIn

I’ve already written about LinkedIn’s enterprise identity management ambitions, and its LinkedIn Application Directory is a key part of that. I don’t hear more about the Application Directory, and it seems that many vendors are using it as more of a promotional vehicle than as a platform for actually doing work. But companies like Discourse, which launched last year, have built their businesses around it. The place where LinkedIn will have the most value as a platform and app store is for firms such as small consultancies and creative agencies that do a lot of project work with external clients.

SAP

The paradox that SAP faces with its enterprise app store is actually the key problem that enterprise apps stores will face. SAP is in a bind in that it needs to support its core group of large enterprises, but it also need to enable developers to innovate quickly. It can take up to nine months for an application submitted to SAP’s store to be approved. SAP can’t skimp on the testing of these apps, but that sort of wait puts a major bottelneck on innovation. SAP is going to have to find a way to speed up its vetting process without weakening it.

Box, Jive, Yammer, etc.

Many enterprise collaboration companies are also selling apps on their platforms. Jive announced its Jive Apps Market in 2010, and other companies like Box and Yammer are also hoping to turn their software into a platform for other companies. It’s probably also worth mentioning SnapLogic, Informatica and Talend, which offer app stores for integrations (see: Integration-as-a-Service).

Internal App Stores

So far we’ve focused on app stores that sell third party software to enterprise users. But the app store model is also being adopted as a means of deploying software internally.

Verizon recently announced plans to enable enterprises to build their own internal enterprise Android apps stores. Also, Apple makes it possible for enterprise users to deploy in-house iOS apps through the iOS Developer Enterprise Program. A legion of smaller startups are providing ways to build and deploy applications internally, sometimes using Apple’s technology.

JackBe sells tools that enable non-programmers to build data-driven apps by mashing up existing data sources, and to do so in a secure, enterprise-friendly way. It also provides a tool for building an internal app store to deploy the apps that employees build.

RhoMobile RhoGallery RhoMobile makes an MVC framework for building cross-platform mobile application. RhoGallery is the company’s software for building private app stores, which can even include non-RhoMobile apps.

Apperian offers Enterprise App Service Environment (EASE). EASE provides custom branded internal app stores for enterprises for deploying and updating internal apps. EASE is available for Android and iOS (through the iOS Developer Enterprise Program). EASE powers AT&T’s Mobile Application offering.

What’s Next?

One thing that’s needed is a platform deploying both third party apps and custom built internal apps, both to mobile devices and to desktops (either locally or in the cloud). Salesforce.com feels the closest to that, with its Force.com and Heroku platforms, but it doesn’t quite have all the pieces together yet, especially the private mobile app store piece. It seems that Microsoft, Podio and IBM are best positioned to crack that particular nut.

One major forthcoming challenge for vendor backed app stores will be conflicts of interest within the ecosystem. Salesforce.com’s ownership of apps like Rypple, Manymoon/Do.com and Desk.com (formerly Assistly) could cause cries of fowl play. However, offering an open market for competing components will be one of the great advantages of the app store model. You could use the idea management tools built into Jive or Yammer. Or you could pick a third party idea management tool from the market.

More Trends 2012 Articles

Identity Management in Age of the Cloud, Mobile and Social

With Big Data comes Big Expectations

Enterprization of the Consumer

Big Data Necessitates DevOps

Integration-as-a-Service

Data-as-a-Service: When Cloud and Big Data Converge

Photo by George Foster