Vodafone Launches SME App Store

Finger-on-phone-touchscreen1.jpgVodafone has launched Digital Marketplace, an app store specifically designed for SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises).

The store will initially launch in Italy, with the first wave of apps including Smart Sales, for catalogue and content management; Smart Hotel, providing tools for hoteliers including a console to manage customer concierge services; Smart Mobility, to organise staff rotas and expenses; and web design app Sito Web.

Following the Italian launch, Digital Marketplace is set to roll out in the UK, Germany and South Africa, targeting a variety of sectors including hospitality and construction.

“Bringing world class business apps to the demanding and critical SME sector is an important development for Vodafone, and I believe that this new service will prove to be a flexible and agile way of introducing new capabilities alongside Vodafone’s services to these important customers,” said Vodafone enterprise product director Jeni Mundy.

The marketplace is built on a platform from AppDirect, which already has a catalogue of hundreds of independent software vendors’ apps, which can be activated on a per-country basis according to local conditions and demands.