????大約一年前，克里斯·歐康納與丹·麥克庫(kù)辭去了在全球生物技術(shù)產(chǎn)業(yè)巨擘基因技術(shù)公司（Genentech）IT部門的安逸工作，創(chuàng)辦了Taptera公司，專門為企業(yè)提供白標(biāo)移動(dòng)應(yīng)用服務(wù)。此后，這家位于舊金山的初創(chuàng)公司已經(jīng)推出了5款精巧的企業(yè)應(yīng)用，包括一個(gè)會(huì)議室預(yù)定系統(tǒng)和一個(gè)員工通訊簿。他們的最新產(chǎn)品Serendipity將于本周發(fā)布，一旦客戶出現(xiàn)在附近，這款應(yīng)用程序就會(huì)向銷售人員發(fā)出提醒。

????你可能從未聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)Taptera這個(gè)名字，但事實(shí)上，包括Taptera在內(nèi)的很多初創(chuàng)公司，甚至還有很多大企業(yè)，都希望在用戶友好型的企業(yè)移動(dòng)應(yīng)用市場(chǎng)里分一杯羹。隨著越來(lái)越多的員工把個(gè)人的iPhone、iPad、安卓設(shè)備、以及其他消費(fèi)電子設(shè)備帶到辦公室，具有前瞻性的公司終于開(kāi)始行動(dòng)起來(lái)，不但支持這些設(shè)備，而且為它們提供可以在這些平臺(tái)上運(yùn)行的創(chuàng)新型應(yīng)用軟件。歐康納與麥克庫(kù)在基因科技公司曾經(jīng)開(kāi)發(fā)了一些新潮有趣的iOS應(yīng)用，例如幫助用戶尋找會(huì)議室的軟件“訂房間”，以及名為“Peeps”的聯(lián)系人名簿。他們的成功引起了蘋果公司（Apple）的注意，并受蘋果之邀前往芝加哥和加拿大，在消費(fèi)電子產(chǎn)品活動(dòng)上給企業(yè)的首席信息官們演講。最終，他們兩位離開(kāi)了基因科技公司，創(chuàng)立了自己的應(yīng)用軟件企業(yè)。

????Taptera的首席執(zhí)行官歐康納表示，公司正在按計(jì)劃開(kāi)展工作，將于今年內(nèi)開(kāi)發(fā)至少15款應(yīng)用，計(jì)劃明年再開(kāi)發(fā)30款。這些應(yīng)用都在蘋果的App Store免費(fèi)供應(yīng)，但是除非你們公司的IT部門（按照每位員工每臺(tái)設(shè)備的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)）按月給Taptera付費(fèi)，否則，這些應(yīng)用對(duì)個(gè)人用戶并不能發(fā)揮太大作用。企業(yè)付費(fèi)后，員工們就能從類似SAP這樣的后臺(tái)系統(tǒng)訪問(wèn)數(shù)據(jù)，或者從客戶關(guān)系管理平臺(tái)Salesforce.com獲得客戶信息（碰巧這家網(wǎng)站是Taptera的投資方之一）。

????Taptera這樣的公司究竟可以走多遠(yuǎn)尚未可知，但毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)的是，它們至少能夠風(fēng)光地被那些急于在移動(dòng)應(yīng)用領(lǐng)域提高聲望的大公司以高價(jià)收購(gòu)，SAP就是一個(gè)例子。（歐康納稱，Taptera至今沒(méi)有接到任何正式的收購(gòu)意向。）Taptera雖然規(guī)模尚小，卻代表著業(yè)界的一股洪流。

????許多企業(yè)軟件領(lǐng)域的初創(chuàng)公司已經(jīng)踏上開(kāi)發(fā)移動(dòng)應(yīng)用之路，而不是被動(dòng)地補(bǔ)充開(kāi)發(fā)iOS或者安卓應(yīng)用。馬特·墨菲是風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資公司凱鵬華盈（Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers）的合伙人（該公司不是Taptera的投資方），他也看到了這種迅猛的變化。凱鵬華盈公司有一個(gè)以iOS應(yīng)用為中心的iFund項(xiàng)目，它在最初三年里只投資于消費(fèi)者軟件，但現(xiàn)在情況正在發(fā)生變化。

????“開(kāi)一家企業(yè)應(yīng)用公司是很時(shí)髦的事情，”墨菲說(shuō)。“現(xiàn)在門檻降低了，因?yàn)槿藗冊(cè)絹?lái)越多地把自己的移動(dòng)設(shè)備帶到辦公室使用，而且對(duì)設(shè)計(jì)的膜拜再次回流。” 墨菲的公司不久前投資給一家名為Apperian的移動(dòng)應(yīng)用管理提供商，他表示自己正在深入了解幾家其它的企業(yè)應(yīng)用初創(chuàng)公司，包括應(yīng)用開(kāi)發(fā)人員。

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????About a year ago Chris O'Connor and Dan McCall left their cushy IT jobs at pharmaceutical powerhouse Genentech to launch Taptera, a company that specializes in building white-label mobile apps for the enterprise. Since then, the San Francisco-based startup has launched five sleek apps for businesses, including a meeting room reservation system and an employee directory. Their latest creation, Serendipity, is an app that notifies salespeople when customers are nearby, which the company is unveiling this week.

????You may not have heard of it, but Taptera is one of many startups -- and large enterprise players --hoping to tap into the demand for user-friendly mobile apps in the workplace. With employees bringing iPhones, iPads, Android devices and other consumer gadgets into the office, forward-thinking companies are finally starting to not only support these devices but also provide innovative apps to run on them. At Genentech, O'Connor and McCall developed sleek, playful iOS apps like Get A Room, a meeting room finder, and a contacts directory called Peeps. They were so successful that they caught Apple's (AAPL) attention—the iPhone maker invited them to speak to CIOs at customer events in Chicago and Canada. Eventually the duo left Genentech to start their own enterprise app-building business.

????O'Connor, CEO of Taptera, says the company is on track to develop upwards of 15 apps this year, with another 30 in the pipeline for next year. The apps are freely available on Apple's App Store but they won't do you much good unless your IT department cuts a monthly check (per user per app) to Taptera to connect data from back-end systems like SAP (SAP) or customer information from Salesforce.com (CRM), which happens to be an investor in the startup).

????It's not clear how big a company like Taptera can get. But they could definitely end up being an attractive acquisition for a larger company hoping to beef up its mobile apps cred—a la SAP. (O'Connor says there have been no official offers for the company to date). And while small, Taptera is part of a larger trend.

????Plenty of new enterprise software companies are starting on mobile, not just developing an iOS or Android app as an afterthought. Matt Murphy, a partner with venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (who is not an investor in Taptera) says he's also seeing the rapid shift. For the first three years, Kleiner Perkins' iOS apps-centric iFund only invested in consumer apps. But that's changing.

????"It's cool to build an enterprise company nowadays," says Murphy. "The walls are coming down because of BYOD [bring your own device] and there's a new appreciation for design." The firm recently invested in mobile app management provider Apperian and Murphy says he is eyeing several other startups--including app developers--in the enterprise space.