Oracle Cloud Marketplace: The App Store for Oracle Cloud and On Premise Applications

I have toyed around with the idea of an enterprise app store for PeopleSoft in the past. Succeed Consultancy in the UK has even built out a dedicated PeopleSoft app store.
Now, Oracle has come out with a dedicated App Store for Oracle applications, specifically targeted towards Oracle cloud applications.

In my opinion, an app eco-system is critical for cloud software vendors and it is heartening to see Oracle take an early plunge in this direction. As we stand at the cusp of a transition from traditional on-premise consulting models to rapid SaaS based implementations, the app marketplace provides an avenue for consulting SIs to tap into an alternate revenue stream.
All in all, the customer will come out as the clear winner, with an elaborate menu of features to choose from.
Let the appification of Oracle cloud begin!

ERP App Store - The Salesforce.com story

I had mooted the idea of having an app store for PeopleSoft modeled in the lines of the apple app store. Questions were raised whether this is a practical idea and how customers would evaluate third party products and plug in applications to their existing PeopleSoft installations. Valid questions all. But, it turns out that we already have a perfect and successful example of an enterprise app store, that run by salesforce.com. You can find the details here - http://appexchange.salesforce.com/home
This is a working model from which one can take a lot of ideas. As I had mentioned in my earlier post, they have used web2.0 features like community rating and all applications come with details on live as well as offline support.
Let me re-emphasize my underlying conviction about this idea - customers badly need innovative, productivity enhancing, pre-built tools to aid their existing PeopleSoft installations. There is a real need for this (there are very few companies like Grey Sparling, SmartERP etc. who have exploited this need and I am sure that they are doing extremely well! Succeed Consultancy in the UK is another organization I have seen having some innovative tools, but not sure if they have commercialized any of them). Such an eco-system of the product and independent developers is required for products to grow and offer exceptional features to customers. I really hope that some company that has the resources to make this happen would take up this idea and make it a reality!