There is an App (war) for that

Once upon a time many, many years ago Apple has lost the OS = Operating System battle (at least the first round). Some believe the main reason was Microsoft’s smart platform play. The Redmond giant bet on building an open OS, not open source but rather a set of robust, easy to use, well documented, supported APIs. They figure out early in the game the simple ‘law of nature’ – easiness of creating applications cause more applications to be created which cause higher value to the underlying platform (OS) resulting in more money to the OS vendor (which is … Microsoft of course).

< Side comment - today in the era of Cloud Computing Microsoft is betting again on the platform, through their Azure offering.>

Fast forward to early 2008 (if I got it right), Apple has launched the AppStore (less than a year after launching the iPhone). Well, it seems Steve Jobs has done his homework. He created an ‘open’ platform (iPhone OS) and invested/promoted the AppStore concept (more than 150k apps and counting).

Apple in the role of Microsoft? Doh!

A different school of thought claims what Microsoft has done to the Macs, Google is doing now to the iPhone/AppStore. Apple still has a one HW-one SW strategy; as far as they’re concerned apps can only run on their HW. Google is making friends with many HW vendors and their Android OS/apps can run on a slew of devices. While Google only has to focus on the SW, Apple needs to be best at both fronts (HW & SW) in order to continue dominating the market.

Though a history fan, why do I open with a history lesson?

News from early this week: ‘Biggest mobile operators join forces on app store project’. It was all over the media (e.g. http://tiny.cc/ktgxp). Should we assume the battle on the apps has just begun?

Of course not! This battle is as old as the Operating Systems. Mostly it was the OS owners fighting for position (Microsoft, Apple, Google, etc.), however occasionally others get greedy (given the size of the turf). It is easier making money selling services/apps in the mobile space, mainly as users are used to paying extra for extra. PC consumers expect everything to be provided as a service (over the internet) and for free. When was the last time you paid for services/apps?

While these 24 carriers claim their motivation is pure - ‘developers will be able to go to one place to get their applications distributed instead of having to go through multiple application approval processes’ (Yeah right…), it is clear they are after piece of the action. Apple’s appStore and Google's Android Market are being challenged by mobile network operators (per article).

Apple’s appStore, Google's Android Market and recent initiative (by mobile network operators) are all about consumer apps, but what about the enterprise?

If I’m an enterprise bought into Apple’s vision and seeking to provide customized (business) apps for my staff, how do I achieve it? How can I enable the iPhone in a similar fashion to laptops? I just want to have my own apps catalogue (similar to my software catalogue solution).

Is it time for a ‘private app store’ for enterprise unlike the ‘public app stores’ previously discussed?

Well, the first signs are here: ‘Google to open app store for business software (http://tiny.cc/W5Hwc). Sounds like the right direction, isn’t it? Despite the promising title it is actually not really what I was looking for. It is mainly a marketplace for business applications focusing (as a first step) on Google Apps (rather than Android Market).

As for enterprise app store solutions, the Apple/Google of the world will probably approach it as an extension of their consumer solution. This will leave the door wide open for security vendors to address question such as access control, application governance etc.

So do we have an App (store) for that?