AppPlanet™ Mobile Application Catalog

Carrier-based mobile business application marketplace

Mobile business application distribution poses challenges for carriers, enterprises, and software vendors:

• Carrier sales channels focus on new customers, not upgrades, expansions or third-party offerings
• Enterprises develop applications for distributed operating divisions, franchises, or third-parties and prefer that operating units pay for applications as they deploy
• Software vendors want to expand their reach to the small to medium-sized business (SMB) market and need channels and billing models consistent with the opportunity size

The self-service device-based catalog model has proved popular for distributing ring tones and other consumer services. However, few businesses would want their workers individually purchasing business applications from their device-based catalog.

The solution is AppPlanet, a carrier-themed online catalog available to administrator users within their branded applications. Through AppPlanet:

• Customers easily find and purchase upgrades, extensions, or third-party offerings relevant to their business
• Enterprises securely publish their appmosphere™ applications for purchase and download by operating units
• Software vendors publish and market their appmosphere applications and extensions to carrier-branded offerings, reaching the elusive SMB market on the carrier bill
• Carriers rapidly expand their business offering to their markets and receive a share of the revenues as a result of the value provided by their brand, their channels, and their network infrastructure

The appmosphere business model is conducive to distribution through AppPlanet:

• Customers purchase and activate a monthly subscription for an appmosphere client. The appmosphere client can be pre-loaded by the carrier on selected devices, or loaded by the customer from on deck catalogs (such as the BREW catalog.)
• The SolarSystem mobile application builder is included with the appmosphere client so development organizations carry only their own development costs
• Enterprise-developed applications published to AppPlanet and used within the enterprise can be downloaded by operating units who pay for appmosphere clients and services used in the application. Fees appear on their carrier bill
• Software vendor developed applications published to AppPlanet can be purchased by end customers who pay for appmosphere clients and the vendor’s services used in the application. Through appmosphere-enabled billing mediation, fees appear on the carrier bill and the software vendor receives a royalty