Sabre Travel Network plans to open a business-to-business application store, enabling Sabre-authorized developers to create and sell their solutions to Sabre's travel agency customers.

Sabre already has more than 130 authorized developers who get vetted by Sabre and pay sometimes-hefty fees to access data and offer their solutions, whether they be corporate booking tools or for GDS middleware, to Sabre-connected travel agencies.

Chris Kroeger, Sabre's senior vice president of marketing, says the new Sabre Red App Centre extends current developer relationships to provide the potential for "deeper and tighter integration" with the Sabre Red Workspace agency desktop.

This new marketplace, which is slated to open "in the coming months," will enable travel agencies to shop for and purchase Sabre-certified Red apps from Sabre, third-party developers and other travel buyers, Sabre says.

Or, as Heidi Castle, a Sabre spokeswoman puts it, "The Red App Centre will be a store where travel buyers can shop for specific applications. It's the difference between getting a referral for a good Audi dealer and buying a new Audi A6."

Sabre will vet the developers and their apps, which can leverage "the administrative controls and plug-in capabilities of the Eclipse Rich Client Platform, upon which the Red Workspace is built."

So, this is not a totally open marketplace: Developers' business goals will have to be aligned with those of Sabre's.

Still, Sabre hopes to spur innovation with the initiative.

Sabre calls the Sabre Red App Centre the "first B2B app centre for the travel industry."

Actually, while Sabre hopes the chance to market to 155,000 Red Workspace users around the world will attract new developers beyond the GDS company's existing roster, the app center isn't for the entire travel industry, but is a marketplace to sell to Sabre subscribers.

There will be no fee for travel agencies to use the app centre, and they can enter into economic relationships to use any apps directly with the developers.

Sabre, in turn, will negotiate varying economic terms with the developers. Costs associated with becoming a Sabre Authorized Developer may include one-time fees, annual fees and/or transaction fees depending on the company and product, Kroeger says.

Developers also get access to a Sabre Red App Developer Toolkit to build Sabre Red apps.

Sabre hopes to make some money, of course, on the new marketplace and to spur innovation when it comes to creating tools for agencies.

"Every year, Sabre invests hundreds of millions of dollars and works closely with more than 130 authorized developers to research and develop new products that help our cusotmers compete and win in a complex industry," says Greg Webb, president of Sabre Travel Network. "Creating an online B2B marketplace will spur a whole new level of innovation for the benefit of Sabre-connected agencies globally."