Mobile application management player AppCentral has built a new online Developer Lab resource in an effort to garner programmer interest in its tools, solutions, and support services.
Free to users who accept the sign up process (its simple — we checked), the AppCentral Developer Lab aims to provide specialized knowledge to balance the security and distribution standards corporate IT departments expect of corporate apps.
AppCentral has positioned the new Developer Lab as a zone to gain free access to its platform for development and testing of apps. Programmers get free support from AppCentral's in-house developers and a free storefront to distribute their apps (regardless of platform) to iOS and Android phones.
Registered users get to test enterprise apps in production for up to 20 users, four free app updates over a 12-month period, and access to what the company calls "best practices and expert advice" in the enterprise app forum. Other benefits also include Appcelerator Titanium, AppCentral's development tools and solutions to help simplify the development process.
AppCentral suggests that arguably over-labeled "business-to-employee" (B2E) apps are expected to be one of the largest growth areas of the mobile revolution over the next few years. Examples here might be employee benefits reports, employee offers, human resources, and corporate announcement and news applications.
ABI Research expects over 830 million enterprise mobile users by 2016. While mobile developers stand to gain, it will require developers to transition to meet the needs of the enterprise.
"AppCentral has worked with enterprises on their mobile apps and understands the potential of the market and the friction developers face when trying to address this market," said AppCentral's CEO Ken Singer.
"We understand the challenges of managing and distributing enterprise mobile apps within a company. Our vision is to create a community that helps developers easily realize the opportunity of the rapidly emerging enterprise mobile app space," added Singer.
