Mobile Enterprise App Stores Growth Driven by Mobile Application Management Needs: Study
By Rajani Baburajan, TMCnet Contributor
A recent research from Strategy Analytics (News - Alert) Wireless Enterprise Strategies finds there has been a steady growth for mobile enterprise app stores, mainly driven by the need to help users discover relevant apps to their line-of-business and select the best and most relevant apps for distribution.
Mobile enterprise app stores’ ability to help customers access the app store securely with workgroup credentials and manage app version control in a way that is familiar and easy to understand for users is also driving the growth of such stores, according to Strategy Analytics “Assessing the Opportunity for the Mobile Enterprise App Store (EAS)” research.
“Various programs, such as the volume purchasing program (VPP) from Apple (News 
- Alert)–which Strategy Analytics covered in an Insight earlier this year–are starting to provide companies with the ability to purchase apps in bulk,” said Gina Luk, senior analyst for Wireless Enterprise Strategies at Strategy Analytics, in a statement.
“But these solutions are incomplete and still require a dedicated Enterprise App Store to more completely integrate management and distribution of applications into the company directory and workgroup structure,” added Luk.
Earlier this year, Sybase (News - Alert), an SAP company and provider of enterprise and mobile software, said mobile enterprise apps are poised to take of in 2011. The Sybase survey conducted by Kelton Research found that 90 percent of IT managers surveyed are planning to implement new mobile applications and nearly one in two believe that successfully managing mobile applications will top their priority list.
Rajani Baburajan is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Rajani's articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Rich Steeves
