Microsoft has launched its next billion-dollar business

This morning, Microsoft launched what it considers to be the “next billion dollar business for cloud and enterprise.” Known as PowerApps, this set of applications allows developers to build custom native apps that can run on multiple platforms, all without having to write a single line of code. PowerApps will be especially appealing to businesses, as it allows them to connect their cloud services and databases however they want with minimal effort. 

PowerApps — codenamed Project Kratos — is designed to allow business users and developers to create custom native, mobile, and Web apps that can be shared simply across their organizations. Microsoft officials announced the opening of the invitation-only PowerApps preview and are demonstrating PowerApps running on iOS, Android, Windows and the Web during the opening day of the Convergence EMEA conference on November 30. Microsoft’s goal in developing PowerApps is to allow business users to harness the power of data scattered throughout their organizations in both software-as-a-service and on-premises apps without having to know how to write a single line of code. The tooling framework that’s at the heart of PowerApps is based on the Project Siena business-development tools that Microsoft began several years ago and then back-burnered.