IBM to Build Apps Marketplace

IBM is trying to rally support for an online applications marketplace for small and mid-size businesses that it plans to launch later this year. On Thursday, it outlined plans to create the Global Applications Marketplace, where small businesses will be able to browse and purchase applications from potentially thousands of ISVs (independent software vendors) around the world, which local IBM channel partners will then install and manage for them. IBM optimistically compared the marketplace to Amazon.com, because customers will be able to read reviews of products written by other customers. It will also be like iTunes, in the sense that it will be tied to the vendor's hardware: customers who use the marketplace will have to have an IBM server, just as iTunes customers need an iPod. The goal is to make it easier for companies with small or nonexistent IT departments to adopt new software and services to help run their businesses. For IBM and its partners it's a way to generate more business from companies with up to 500 employees, a market largely untapped by IBM thus far. The initiative, also called the Blue Business Platform, was announced Thursday at IBM's Business Partner Leadership Conference in Los Angeles, where IBM pitched the idea to resellers and ISVs.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/05/02/IBM-to-build-apps-marketplace_1.html