Issues Surrounding Enterprise Apps Submission in an App Store

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We all are fully aware of the fact that smart phones and mobile apps rule our current the human race. More than half of US population now owns a smart phone. In terms of business sector, combination of smart phones and BYOD has led 30 percent of mobile services revenue to generate only from the enterprise apps market. This figure is expected to swell further as new technologies keep innovating. Despite the fact that enterprises are embracing mobile apps, the current trend and application ecosystem has largely been customer-oriented platform. Take Apple app store for example. If a developer wishes to publish his app in the Apple's app store, he has to purchase a developer account, submit the app for review and after Apple's reviewers approval, it will feature in Apple's app store. This is the case of general apps, but what if a business owner wants to get his enterprise app featured in an app store.

Until some time back, submitting an app and getting it approved used to be a clunky task but with the rapidly augmenting competition, apps stores have smoothened their support system and app submission process. Currently, Apple, Android and Windows are three main app stores, catering the needs of enterprises and business sector. All of them have also simplified the process for enterprises to submit one or more enterprise app or open its own app store. However, in both these requirements, enterprises will have to confront different procedures on different platforms. Let us study the procedure adopted by top Apple and Android in deploying enterprise mobile apps.


iOS

Enterprises looking to release their enterprise iOS apps for external use do not want to rely on Apple's app store for its distribution. The submitter has to wait for getting his app approved by the reviewers before it could appear on the app store to be downloaded by any random visitor. One solution to this situation is to use App Developer Enterprise Program but it requires app developers to buy a yearly license costing USD 299. After getting an App Developer Enterprise Program, an entrepreneur would require to take a couple of things to complete the process - distribution certificate and provisioning profile. This certificate is valid for one year and the developer has to acquire a new certificate before it is expired. Apps developed through App Developer Enterprise Program can be distributed freely to the end-user through an email or a URL with ".ipa" extension.

Android Enterprise Apps

Ever since Google launched Android, it has been receiving accolades for being a very open system. Businesses have been appreciating and preferring Android more, as it allows them to submit their apps without any hassle. The developers need no business license whatsoever to submit apps in Android app store. However, they do require a digital identity certificate that can be self signed and the user need not purchase it from any third party authority. Unlike iOS, submitting an app in Android app store requires no more obligations and since, no ongoing fee is required to maintain the validity of the running apps, businesses prefer Android more.


I had mentioned above that app submission process is very different in Android and Apple app store. Developers should consider every aspect of app submission and app store development before deciding which app store to use. Apple apps store has more approbation because of the brand name "Apple" connected with it, whereas android offers free and less complicated app submission system and both has their share of pros and cons, which are to be considered seriously before submitting the apps.

The author works with enterprise apps development companies. The company has earned a name as one of the best mobile banking app development. The team of iPad developers Dallas, BlackBerry, and Android has created more than 300 apps for clients.

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