Cisco launches Cius app store

A new portal for users of Cisco's own tablet device arrives in the shape of AppHQ

Cisco has launched an app store built specifically for its own tablet offering, the Android-based Cius.

The app store, called AppHQ, will provide developers with tools and resources to create, test and market applications for the Cius device, and allows IT managers to control the applications that can be used on the devices.

Additionally, companies' IT departments can create their own private, custom-branded application storefronts for their organisations, called Store-within-a-Store.

These storefronts provide enterprises with a secure Cisco-hosted private application store within AppHQ, where employees can find, publish and procure applications for their business.

Cisco was been criticised by rival Alcatel-Lucent, whose senior managers branded the tablet offering from Cisco as "stupid", claiming that networking vendors will never be able to compete with the likes of Apple in the tablet market.

But the fact that the AppHQ only provides apps that can be used on the Cius, and not other Android tablets, suggests that Cisco very much sees a future for its own Cius device in the tablet space for the enterprise market.