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Possible Duplicate:
iPhone app without AppStore

I work for a software company which creates bespoke applications for customers - currently just ASP.NET internal applications. Due to the growth of mobile, we've been considering creating mobile apps for our customers. These apps would be extremely specific to a customer so we would not want these in any app stores.

While with Android this is obviously relatively simple, but seeing as the distribution of iOS apps is restricted to the App Store (as far as I know!) we would be unable to create iOS apps. Am I missing anything - i.e. is there a way to distribute apps without using the App Store?

Kara
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Chris
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    I would like to make a point that if you follow a lot of links on http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/8231/are-answers-that-just-contain-links-elsewhere-really-good-answers there are answers by Community/Moderators that say providing links is perfectly fine as long as it is still providing the correct information, not out dated and is not to anything inappropriate. So my answer was perfectly fine. I flagged all involved. – Popeye Jan 30 '13 at 10:43
  • But if the links are to answers on Stack Overflow - why not just link them? It keeps the answers all in one place rather than distributed across similar questions. SO is a question and answer site, not a forum, having the answers in one place is part of that. – Abizern Jan 30 '13 at 10:53
  • Yes keeps everything together but how many people actually read the answer that they are saying it is a duplicate of before marking it as an exact duplicate. I have had questions closed because they are marked as exact duplicates and the duplicate is years out of date and doesn't help anymore so this is why as many have said on the link that it is still perfectly fine to just add links as an answer as one link might not provide the best description alone but many do. – Popeye Jan 30 '13 at 12:08
  • So whilst I don't know who downvoted or delete my answer if it was because it was links as an answer they are technically wrong and I am backed up by Community/Moderators on this. I have also had a response back from a moderator about this, and whilst I am correct he doesn't see the point in adding it back in cause others don't agree with just providing links so it would not benefit me. But still I would like others to know this is still perfectly acceptable and should not be bullied into not giving an answer like it. – Popeye Jan 30 '13 at 12:12

3 Answers3

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There are two schemes designed for this scenario.

First, there's Enterprise. This is (kind of) like delivering ad hoc builds. There are restrictions but it doesn't go through the App Store or a review processes.

More recently, there is also a special B2B channel. Your customers download from the App Store, but the app isn't public. Other than having to go through review, the other disadvantage is that the scheme is not available in all countries. This may not be a problem for you, of course.

Stephen Darlington
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A lot of clients I work for want the "publicity" of being in the app store but don't want everyone to have access. The way around this is to create an app that requires a login, with credentials that you control server side.

Flexicoder
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Consider building an HTML5 app. This way you can distribute it yourself (and the user can easily add it to their device as a link (which looks like an App icon).

ahwulf
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