1. An image forming apparatus comprising: a hardware resource including at least one of a printer and a scanner; an operating system; a plurality of application programs operable on the operating system and configured to provide services related to an image forming process; a receiving unit configured to receive updating data; an updating unit configured to update at least one of the plurality of application programs based on the updating data received by the receiving unit; and a control program operable on the operating system and configured to receive a processing request from at least one of the plurality of application programs, the at least one of the plurality of application programs being updated by the updating unit, and to control the hardware resource based on the received processing request.