For up-to-date product documentation, see the IBM MobileFirst Foundation Developer Center.

Concept of Application Center

Application Center can be used as an Enterprise application store and is a means of sharing information among different team members within a company.

The concept of Application Center is similar to the concept of the Apple public App Store or the Android Market, except that it targets only private usage within a company.

By using Application Center, users from the same company or organization download applications to mobile phones or tablets from a single place that serves as a repository of mobile applications.

Application Center targets mobile applications that are installed on the device itself. Those applications can be native applications that are built by using the device SDK or hybrid applications that mix native and web content. Application Center does not target mobile web applications; such applications are delivered to the mobile device web browser through a URL like a website.

In the current version, Application Center supports applications that are built for the Google Android platform, the Apple iOS platform, the Windows Phone 8 platform, and the Windows 8 platform.

For Windows Phone, only the Windows Phone application package (.xap) file format is currently supported, not the app package (.appx) file format (universal app format). For Windows Store (Desktop applications), the app package (.appx) file format is supported.

Windows Phone 7 and Windows RT, and BlackBerry OS are not supported by the current version of the Application Center.

Application Center manages mobile applications; it supports any kind of Android, iOS, Windows Phone 8, or Windows 8 application, including applications that are built on top of the MobileFirst platform.

We can use the Application Center as part of the development process of an application. A typical scenario of Application Center is a team building a mobile application; the development team creates a new version of an Android, iOS, Windows Phone, or Windows 8 application. The development team wants this new version to be reviewed and tested by the extended team. A developer goes to Application Center console and uploads the new version of the application to Application Center. As part of this process, the developer can enter a description of the application version. For example, the description could mention the elements that the development team added or fixed from the previous version. The new version of the application is then available to the other members of the team.

Another person, for example, a beta tester, can launch Application Center installer application, the mobile client, to locate this new version of a mobile application in the list of available applications and install it on his mobile device. After testing the new version, the beta tester can rate the application and submit feedback. The feedback is visible to the developer from the Application Center console.

Application Center is a convenient way to share mobile applications within a company or a group; it is a means of sharing information among team members.

Parent topic: Application Center