Feature Article

Free eNews Subscription>>
July 30, 2013

More Manufacturers Rolling Out Own Apps, App Stores for Internal Use

More manufacturers are developing their own mobile apps and rolling out their own internal app stores, according to a new report by IDC Manufacturing Insights.

"The rise of the corporate app store is an emerging trend in manufacturing, and we believe it will continue to become an appropriate construct for managing the proliferation of mobile apps inside the corporation,” Heather Ashton, research manager of IT Priorities and Strategies at IDC Manufacturing Insights, said. “Manufacturers need to evaluate their current mobility maturity and understand when and how a corporate app store can effectively facilitate the spread of mobile apps throughout their organization."

The report, titled “”Business Strategy: Looking Forward to the Corporate Application Store,” examines the factors that determine whether a manufacturer should create its own app store or not.

According to the report, the ideal app store is device-independent, officially sanctioned by the company and abides by corporate governance and security standards.

While over 80 percent of manufacturers are developing mobile applications, only 20 percent of them have their own app stores.

Manufacturers must also take design, development, deployment and management into account, as well as how key IT suppliers will respond.

IDC expects more companies to roll out their own app stores over the next 12 to 18 months, as they introduce more apps to their employees and look for a way to streamline delivery of these apps.

According to the report, there are a number of key business patterns in applications that recur in business processes. The job of mobile enterprise application platform (MEAP) vendors is to provide these patterns in their development tools to allow in-house developers to tailor these applications to their company’s needs. IDC also recommends that companies choosing to implement their own app stores also use patterns to make deploying their applications easier.

According to IDC, MEAP vendors are making things easier by providing basic “building blocks” that developers can use to build applications quickly instead of coding from scratch.




Edited by Blaise McNamee


FOLLOW MobilityTechzone

Subscribe to MobilityTechzone eNews

MobilityTechzone eNews delivers the latest news impacting technology in the Wireless industry each week. Sign up to receive FREE breaking news today!
FREE eNewsletter