Predicting the future is always fun.
To close out 2017, we put together a high-level view of what we think is in store for this year. The mile-high version is that, as we stated, the enterprise mobility market is still only barely tapped. Thankfully, there appears to be a lot of room for growth.
In our 2017 preview, however, we didn’t talk much about where that growth would come. We’re here now, then, with a prediction: in 2018 and beyond, embedded app stores will be king.
We first publicly touched on this idea a couple of years ago when we introduced something we coined the “enterprise machine.” The enterprise machine is not a smartphone or tablet that happens to house enterprise apps. Rather, it’s a purpose-built product that uses applications to expand and increase its functionality. Imagine an ultrasound device bundled with apps for different types of screenings, or a combine with an integrated tablet loaded with apps to plant and fertilize a field.
Enter 2018. We’re not abandoning our BYOD customers—we repeat, we are not abandoning our BYOD customers—but all signs point towards the embedded app store as the path forward for App47.
Although momentum around mobile apps continues to build, and companies we work with and talk to continue to add resources and capabilities to their mobility strategies, that momentum is usually not going towards apps to reserve conference rooms or input data. It’s going toward unlocking the functionality of products that used to be closed systems and are being made better with apps.
Although this is a slight change of course for App47, it’s one we’re confident will pay off.
