The Future: Big Corporations Become Distributors for Small Business Apps

January 21, 2009 at 1:20 am · Filed under Information Architecture, Web 2.0

We’ve seen the future for small business developers of software apps — and it’s having the big guys distribute your app on their platform.

What Wal-Mart did for entrepreneurial inventors of new consumer products … what Amazon did for authors of new books …  and what eBay did for antiques dealers and other small etailers — various companies are now doing for developers of software and media applications.

We are seeing large popular products become distribution channels for smaller “satellite” products, through an associated marketplace.  These are places where small developers of products can go and more easily find customers and distribute their apps without the costs of developing market channels on their own.

Perhaps the highest profile apps distribution platform is Apple with its Apps Store.

USAToday has an article about how application developers are using the iPhone as a way to get noticed.  And it’s more than just getting PR or visibility — they’re making money, too.  App developers are clamoring to get in to the App Store because they get results.  For instance, Pandora, the online radio service, is reported to get 40% of its new subscribers from the iPhone.  And it’s all because Apple makes it easy with its Apps Store — easy for both end users and developers.

But iPhone apps are just a start.

RIM, makers of the ubiquitous BlackBerry, recently announced that it is accepting developer applications for its new Application Storefront, which will allow BlackBerry users to download software applications to their BlackBerry devices.

Google has a similar opportunity in the works for its Android Market, a marketplace of apps for its new Android phone.

And it doesn’t stop with mobile devices.  No — software apps are also being distributed online through centralized venues.  Of course, we’ve long had places like Tucows and Download.com, where if you had a small piece of shareware or a low-priced software app, you could distribute it.

But now ecosystems are developing, with apps designed to work with particular products such as the iPhone.

The Intuit Marketplace is one of the highest profile examples of a marketplace for SaaS software applications.  It’s more than just a marketplace, but is actually a platform that helps developers cost effectively build hosted online applications.  By participating in the Intuit Partner Progam, Intuit tells developers of B2B software they can “Easily build Intuit Workplace Apps and then sell them to our millions of small business customers.”  Intuit goes on to say it’s … “The fastest & easiest way to build your SaaS business - without the hassle of building your own server, database, and billing infrastructure.”

Intuit allows you to use their QuickBase infrastructure to develop the application.  They make it easy to integrate with the flagship Intuit product, QuickBooks.  They host the application for you.  You pay only for the resources you use.  And they’ll even provide a platform at the Intuit Marketplace so you can sell your app to the 4 million small business customers that Intuit has.

Currently in the Intuit Marketplace Workplace Apps collection there appear to be hundreds of applications available.   For more, read the review by Alex Criss of the Partner Platform and the Intuit Marketplace.

Small businesses have seen the future, and it’s about partnering with the big guys to develop, host and distribute your software application as a service.

If Your App Were an Employee

August 18, 2008 at 6:30 am · Filed under Change Management, Information Architecture

Kathy Sierra, author of the Head First books through O’Reilly, used to write a blog until something bad happened (a stalker?).

Anyway, her blog is still up and I happened upon it recently. One of her posts from 2007 is simply fabulous for any company that designs software apps — or for any company choosing software apps to use.

Through a series of funny graphics she compares software apps to employee types. In other words, if your app were an employee, what type would it be?

Here is a sample of one of the 8 “app types”:

In the comments to her post other people join in and suggest additional app, er… employee, types.

It’s a fun and memorable way to take a look at an app to see how well — or poorly — designed it is and how it appears to the user. Her post should be required reading for product managers, software programmers, QA staff — and project managers evaluating new software purchases.  (And maybe for some employees you know.)

Read Kathy Sierra’s post about if apps were employees — warning: some of the language and graphics are “irreverent”.

Home Cloud Computing

August 8, 2008 at 1:12 pm · Filed under Information Architecture

For those whom frequent traveling is part of the job description, accessing much-needed tools and data on the field is a big challenge. External devices can only hold so much, and the threat of theft is always present. It may not be worth the risk if you’re dealing with sensitive information. Thanks to cloud computing and cloud storage, these issues are becoming more manageable everyday.

In today’s gadget-obsessed world, the cloud may solve yet another problem. Consumers are accumulating massive amounts of personal data, and these are usually distributed among several computers, digital media players, mobile phones, home entertainment center, and so on. Since these devices tend to overlap on certain tasks, data duplication is the norm. For example, music can be played on an iPod and on a MacBook. Documents can be edited on a PC and on a smartphone. At a certain point, synching the folders on these devices can become too tiresome for even the most experienced technorati. Jon Stokes made a fairly detailed rant about it on Ars Technica:

“I spend way too much time and effort trying to keep different file collections in sync among different devices, so that I can make sure that I have the right version of the right file in the right place when I need it. In short, file syncing is the bane of my existence, and managing multiple versions of individual files and databases (both structured and unstructured) is a constant battle.”

He proposes a novel solution: a home storage cloud. This home cloud won’t be another server far, far away, but all of your devices acting together to form a seamless storage solution, optimized for folder sharing and synchronization. No more worrying if the iTunes library on your desktop and your iPod are up-to-date with each other - the interconnecting software will take care of that. If you think about it, a cloud of this nature makes a lot of sense.

A home storage cloud can also serve as a convenient link between your local files and external cloud services. Making an online back-up of your files will be almost trivial, as the software will be responsible for keeping your home cloud and the Web-based cloud in sync. And since your home cloud is always up-to-date, the impact of server down times will be minimal. What’s not to like?

Google, I hope you’re reading this.

Advice from Australian Government — use IA

March 22, 2008 at 3:30 am · Filed under Information Architecture, Web Apps

How do you know whether your web tools or apps will be effective and usable?

Advice from the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) suggests that government agencies draw on the discipline of information architecture to ensure “ensure that sites meet [both] business and user needs”. A key role of AGIMO is to identify and promote ‘Better Practice’. They’ve created several checklists to help with the key issues for websites in the Australian Government context — checklists that are equally important for businesses who are endeavouring to deliver Web 2.0 applications into the market.

Australian Government agencies are finding that [information architecture] issues are particularly important when they are redesigning or redeveloping existing websites … Sites established several years ago may have grown in an ad-hoc way or grown very large. As a result they may be confusing to users and difficult to manage and may not accurately reflect current agency priorities.

With Web 2.0 applications like Flickr and Facebook quickly becoming the benchmark for user-interaction online, AGIMO’s advice is a timely reminder that online applications and collaborative software, need to be designed well, and information well-structured, in order to assist people to achieve their information needs.

IA is the foundation of good website design. It is about planning where information and services will be located on the site in the most convenient and logical way for users. Effective IA helps ensure that sites meet [both] business and user needs.

M