Microsoft PowerApps and Flow to be generally available November 1
Microsoft's PowerApps and Flow development tools will be generally available on November 1, not coincidentally the same day that Dynamics 365 goes on the company's price list. — Microsoft will be making PowerApps and Flow …
Context & Ripple Effects
PowerApps and Flow have been in public preview since April, when Microsoft opened the business-app builder to testers and separately launched Flow as an IFTTT-like automation tool. The April preview capped a build-out that began with the original PowerApps launch for mobile and web apps on iOS, Android, and Windows in late 2015.
The November 1 general-availability date is not arbitrary: it lands on the same day Dynamics 365, Microsoft's Azure-hosted combination of CRM and ERP, starts rolling out and hits the company's price list. The tools are graduating from experiment to commercial product in lockstep with the business suite they are meant to extend.
First-order effects
- Business customers can now buy and run PowerApps and Flow in production rather than under preview terms, and Dynamics 365 buyers get the app-building and workflow tools available the same day their CRM/ERP subscription starts.
Second-order effects
- Tying PowerApps and Flow to the Dynamics 365 price list pushes them as add-ons to the suite, pressuring standalone low-code and automation vendors to compete on integration with Microsoft's ERP/CRM data rather than on tool features alone.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, Microsoft's application platform strategy is to commoditize custom app-building and workflow automation as attach-ons to its cloud business suite — shifting value from the tools themselves to the Azure-hosted data and subscriptions they connect, a form of margin migration to execution.
The trend: Microsoft is bundling low-code app development and automation into its Dynamics 365 cloud suite, moving these capabilities from standalone products to attach-on features of enterprise subscriptions.