Mr. Hilscher, you developed an app store for the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance and presented it to the Alliance members on 6 May. How was the response?

Hans-Jürgen Hilscher: The response from the members covered the whole spectrum from great enthusiasm to the critical comment 'We're working on an app store ourselves!

What are the next steps?

The most important thing for us now is to present the Community App Store at the SPS! In terms of development, we are currently implementing an interface for transferring invoice data to ERP systems. We are also currently breaking new ground with Wibu-Systems by implementing copy protection for script-based container apps - a very exciting topic that we also want to present here at the trade fair.

As far as the Alliance's Marketplace Directory is concerned, the first compliant apps are listed there and others are indicated as being in development. I assume that we will also find these in the App Store after the planned 'Go Live' on February 1 next year.

When you presented the App Store, you emphasized the philosophy of "Open and One"! What do you mean by that?

This is one of the principles by which a 'non-profit organization' can become successful. We also claim this for ourselves. We are 'One' Industrial 4.0 Ecosystem with a consistent semantics that works according to a common guideline and is 'Open' for all. Think back 30 years: the PC market has only been booming since there has been an open PC operating system; and only with open app technology will there be a successful Industry 4.0 arena in automation.

What pricing model should the store have? A one-off payment or a subscription model? Will Hilscher receive a percentage of the app sales?

There are apps that are only necessary during the set-up phase or for fault diagnostics. The user does not want to pay a monthly fee for such apps. Other apps, on the other hand - such as those with an artificial intelligence component - generate ongoing added value. In these cases, I expect subscription models to prevail.

As far as we as Hilscher are concerned, we will certainly finance the App Store via a percentage share of the app providers' revenue, which is a win-win situation. In addition, we see a monthly fee for companies that want to present themselves with a service offering or free apps.