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My idea of an enterprise app store is that there is a page on the company's website where all the apps that that company developed for its employees are listed so they can use them. And access to this apps is restriceted to the employees of the company.

As far as I know you can download an Android App from any website and install it on an Andoid phone, you don't have to use Android Market. However installing an App that does not come from the Android Market is not that straightforward.

For Apple, you can only install an app from the Appstore, so how can you have an enterprise app store?

Please tell me what exactly is an enterprise app store. I think I got it wrong, also I read a lot on the internet for this keywords.

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  • Where did you see the words? Please provide the quote or link so we can see the context in which you saw the words.
    – S.Lott
    Jan 4, 2012 at 10:48
  • they're anywhere. On wikipedia under the smartphone and tablets, lots of results on google, or research papers like this embarcadero.com/appwave/images/AppWave-OVUM-WP.pdf
    – Ryan
    Jan 4, 2012 at 11:09
  • They're anywhere in different contexts with different implications. It helps to provide a specific context so we know what you know. We can't guess. Which specific context confused you? The Wikipedia entry? The Embarcadero paper?
    – S.Lott
    Jan 4, 2012 at 11:39
  • Enterprise app stores exist so staff with BYOD or who work remotely can use a 'self service portal' which delivers the apps to their desk tops. This does rely on good broadband speeds for the larger apps like Creative Cloud or CAD software. For SMEs and SMBs who don't have the infrastructure or staff to develop these then one which offers SaaS is Apporto.com
    – user182539
    Jun 5, 2015 at 11:01

3 Answers 3

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Apple's iOS Enterprise Developer programs allows a D&B rated corporation to be certified or authorized and get digital signing certificates which allow the companies employees to download apps from the company's own web site, which could look like an internal app store, or just be an internal web page, onto the employee's iOS devices. It contractually restricts distribution to employees only.

For a small company with a bit less than 100 total max iOS devices (including all possible potential future replacements and upgrades) for all apps to be deployed, it's easier to just use a regular iOS Company Developer enrollment and Ad Hoc app distribution, where apps could then be deployed from a web site such as TestFlight to employees or clients to those less-than-100 registered devices.

Both Apple's Enterprise and regular Developer Ad Hoc apps will require annual renewal, as the certificates allowing the apps to run expire.

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  • +1 for being mostly right. I'd disagree that it's easier to use ad hoc distribution for < 100 devices, though. Development profiles only last a few months, which means that users would have to reinstall all their apps every few months. Also, managing all the device ID's is a hassle, and you can only replace devices on the list once each year.
    – Caleb
    Jan 4, 2012 at 18:46
  • Ad Hoc profiles have lasted longer lately. Perhaps requiring re-installs less than twice as often as required for Enterprise apps. The cost of a D&B rating is also non-zero.
    – hotpaw2
    Jan 4, 2012 at 18:58
  • Another downside to using AdHoc deployment is that anytime you add a device, the application has to be re-signed to include the mobile provision information to include that new device.
    – chrish
    Sep 10, 2012 at 15:12
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For Apple, you can only install an app from the Appstore, so how can you have an enterprise app store?

http://embarcadero.com/appwave/images/AppWave-OVUM-WP.pdf

This reference uses a rhetorical technique called "reasoning by analogy". They're not saying that an enterprise must literally run the exact Apple-branded App-Store web site in some kind of magical "internal mode" that doesn't appear exist.

They're suggesting that the app store model might be a good idea for an enterprise to find a way to adopt.

There's a world of difference between "app store" and "Apple's App Store". One is a broad, vague, good idea. An enterprise could use this Design Pattern and build something good for their users.

The other is a specific piece of software that an enterprise can't easily run internally.

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  • Thanks S.Lott. What I want to ask is, If I am company A, I have created 2 apps for my employees, how would I go about distributing the apps. Can I create something like a private Appstore, or I just deploy them to AppStore and Android market like any other app, and when a user who is not an employee at company A tries to install the app, he can not use it because he has to enter a password or something. so is this the way a company would distribute it's enterprise private apps?
    – Ryan
    Jan 4, 2012 at 12:50
  • The article suggests "create something like a private Appstore". I'm not sure why this is unclear. Are the specific words or phrases you can highlight that illustrate what's confusing?
    – S.Lott
    Jan 4, 2012 at 13:33
  • Well how can you create a private AppStore? Can you give me an example of something like this?
    – Ryan
    Jan 4, 2012 at 14:55
  • @Ryan: Step 1. Write a web application which can download. Step 2. Load apps. It doesn't seem too difficult. What part seems confusing? Can you please be specific?
    – S.Lott
    Jan 4, 2012 at 15:11
  • @Ryan - You can install any application on any device ( although how many might be limited ) that you have written. Do you even have these fictional applications?
    – Ramhound
    Jan 4, 2012 at 15:23
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My idea of an enterprise app store is that there is a page on the company's website where all the apps that that company developed for its employees are listed so they can use them. And access to this apps is restriceted to the employees of the company.

Correct. The idea is that as a company you provide common and useful apps to allow your staff to do their work/get information no matter where they are. The apps might provide report data, current sales(per minute/hour), sale targets or even network availability server status.

For Apple, you can only install an app from the Appstore, so how can you have an enterprise app store?

While a bit dangerous You develop your app as normal and publish to the Apple Appstore. When a user tries to use it they have to enter a registration key which is only provided to approved users and is unique to each user.

Personally I have mixed views on the concept of an App Store. You would hope that in most organisations that there is already a defined list of applications provided that allows everyone to do their work. If there isn't then providing an App Store won't help as the apps still need to be written and if they haven't been written before now I can't see the enterprise investing in an App store.

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  • Is this the same way an Android App is distributed to the employees? You just depoy it to the Market and then you dissalow acces for non-employee users? Could you give me a link to an app on AppStore or Android that is distributed like this?
    – Ryan
    Jan 4, 2012 at 12:58
  • Just make HTML sites that work on webkit.
    – Incognito
    Jan 4, 2012 at 14:39
  • @Ryan - You can side-load applications on Android. You can do the same thing on iOS if its jailbroken do something similar. In addition you can with a developer key install any application you write. Although the number of devices might be limited.
    – Ramhound
    Jan 4, 2012 at 15:21

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