A month or so ago, British Airways issued a press release about its new iPhone application.

Reading through it, the thought struck me that here was the first example of a corporate iPhone app, one produced by a large company to support its wider business; not an app created by a software shop whose aim is to make money from the app.

And I wondered: did British Airways produce it in-house, or farm out the dev work elsewhere? I decided to find out.

It turns out that the app was produced by an in-house team, at first as a private project (in other words, something they decided to try out of pure curiosity, not something they'd been asked to do by their managers).

BA spokeswoman Tove Carroll told me:

"The software was developed by two chaps in our Innovations Team. They started it on their own, and later presented it to the rest of the team.

"Everyone was so excited that it grew from there."

Now, I don't know about you but I thought this was fascinating. Here was a sign of genuine let's-just-build-it innovation from within a very large business, one that's not got a reputation for software. (I don't mean that disparagingly; I mean it in the sense that BA's reputation is for running an airline, and nothing else.) Where else, I wondered, is similar innovation taking place? What other software products might we see from other corporates?

I wanted to talk to the BA Innovation Team to find out, but then Tove Carroll emailed me again, saying they didn't think they could help me any further.

"This iPhone project was unusual and standalone and the general process for developing applications for mobile devices will be decided on a project by project basis."

Ah well, an interview denied. A shame, but at least we learned a little about how the British Airways app came to be.

Now my thoughts have moved in a different direction: what about all the corporate entities that want iPhone apps, but don't have a forward-thinking innovations team, or just don't have the programming experience to create iPhone software in-house? They, surely, are going to be looking for software houses to hire.

It will be very interesting to see, in the coming months, which teams get hired by which companies. The App Store isn't just a shop; it's a portfolio of work by talented people, seeking more business from higher-paying clients.