Reston, VA, February 7, 2011 – In a move that could do for mobile application management what social media has done to create a user-driven Internet, App47 today announced the release of a new service that effectively commoditizes the enterprise app store. The offering, App47 Developer Edition, gives every company the ability to deploy and manage its own app store, a custom-selected suite of mobile applications it can manage on its own, absolutely free.
Chief among the reasons for providing this free Developer Edition, as explained by App47 leadership, is to expedite the first step of enterprise mobile application implementation — deployment — but to then facilitate successful management of those applications in a reliable, easily owned environment.
In speaking with enterprise mobility thought leader Philippe Winthrop, managing director of the Enterprise Mobility Foundation, he stated that, “the enterprise app store is just one, albeit a vital, facet of an over-arching mobile application management strategy.”
Winthrop’s observation indicates an emerging trend in application management, and one that App47 is working to cultivate: an expanded field of vision that encompasses the complete enterprise mobile application lifecycle.
“Every company should have access to an enterprise app store, today, right now,” said App47 CEO Chris Schroeder. “The debates about which store is better shouldn’t be the top concern, so we just decided to make them easily available. Our focus will be to move the conversation toward those vital behind-the-scenes priorities: security, management, configuration and ROI.”
Schroeder noted that deployment is understandably the most prominent phase of the application development lifecycle, but it is just the beginning. The mobile application marketplace is realizing that ensuring security, configuration, managing updates, monitoring performance and capturing return on investment are increasing priorities.
App47 leadership is convinced that scrutiny of enterprise mobile application ROI is long overdue. “The introduction of apps was such a game changer, and we’ve all had a great time the past couple of years simply building them,” added Schroeder. “It’s comparable to back when we were first building websites. It was overwhelmingly exciting, but there came a time when we realized we had to determine how well they were working. It’s the same now with mobile apps.”
