The problem with BPM (arpart from being Beats Per Minute and the Speaking Clock in China) is that there are 2 different categories of BPM app in your survey. The first are those that are a visual representation of the process ie the Intelligent Operations Manual (Nimbus Control being one of them), and the second category which is and executable application ie workflow/form filling.

The first category can really take advantage of a touch screen and the real estate esp on tablet to give a far richer experience, as Jim Boots from Chevron talked about in the Financial Times article, or in the blog about a very senior level client meeting last week. The other advantage is sync’g the information for off-line use, as a Carphone Warehouse / Best Buy have found where bandwith in South Africa is poor.

A pity, since it’s a good term and, like hoover and sellotape/scotch tape, is likely to be picked up by the population at large. I’m not immediately sure what the generic term for App Store is – App Retailer? (Given that ‘App’ is used by both Apple & Blackberry it’s presumably not protected). Here’s another link to the Microsoft trademark challenge, btw.

I’m not 100% sure of your final point (‘Also, the abbreviation for “application” is “app” not “App”’) If you’re aiming to draw a distinction between downloadable, mobile-focussed software and browser-based software then I feel that any difference between them is less important than the distribution model that they increasingly have in common – the App Retailer (there – used it!). Android Market, Chrome Web Store and Google Apps Marketplace differ in the technical focus of their Apps, but the distribution model is fast converging and in that context I think we’ll soon be referring to all application software as ‘Apps’.

For the record, in 2008 Apple has filed a trademark for “App Store”. (See, Apple and Microsoft Fight Over “APP STORE” Trademark App) Microsoft is fighting it. Until it’s rejected, “App Store” refers uniquely to Apple’s service. There’s no such thing as “App Stores” as no other vendor calls its application service an “App Store”, since Apple’s in the process of trademarking it. Various other vendors use names like (Android) “Marketplace,” (BlackBerry) “App World” and so on. Also, the abbreviation for “application” is “app” not “App”.

Sorry for the intrusion, but these make it hard to parse the references in the piece.

Your post also makes me wonder whether there would be a market for a ‘universal’ inbox for IOS 4.0, to which BPM vendors or third parties could provide interfaces to individual BPM systems, allowing iPad/iPhone users to participate in processes managed by a range of BPM engines? Interesting.

I was interested to see this blog as I’d tried the same search recently with the same initial results. I have been taking a slightly different approach to this need, at least from the task management point of view. What are the possibilities of using of existing internet task management (iCalendar/CalDav) capabilities for a common task management UI, mobile or otherwise? My project site gives some idea of what the possibilities are:

http://taskcal.sourceforge.net/

The other alternative might be a WS HumanTask mobile UI.