SharePoint 2013 Gets App Platform and Store

The current version of SharePoint 2013 and SharePoint Online, the subscription-based version of the product available as a component of Microsoft’s upgraded Office 365 service (collectively, SharePoint 2013), feature a new extensibility model, primarily for ISVs. This model, called Apps for SharePoint, could enable ISVs to sell the same application to SharePoint 2013 and SharePoint Online customers. Apps for SharePoint includes new, somewhat restrictive programming interfaces for integration, a store for application sales and distribution, and a licensing enforcement infrastructure for the applications within SharePoint. The model will benefit ISVs selling to small- or medium-sized customers at first, but it could grow to have broader appeal.

Apps for SharePoint

The new Apps for SharePoint model is intended to provide a unified opportunity for ISVs to build solutions that integrate into hosted or on-premises instances of SharePoint and to easily market and sell those applications to customers.