Does the iPhone / iPod Touch support bulk enterprise app deployment or would all customers have to buy from app store

Question

I'm just wondering if anybody knows if Apple provides deals to enterprises wanting to deploy an application to a large # of customers. Or does every customer have to go to the app store and buy the application individually giving Apple the 30% cut of your app price.

Thanks

Answer 1

Yes, they do support enterprise deployments

Answer 2

If you develop an application that you want to distribute yourself,it must be digitally signed with a certificate issued by Apple. You must also provide your users with a distribution provisioning profile that allows their device to use the application.

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en%5FUS/Enterprise%5FDeployment%5FGuide.pdf

Answer 3

The >500 employee restriction (mentioned in some of the responses here) has just been removed within the past week. See: alternative-solutions-for-in-house-iphone-enterprise-app-distribution