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Google Apps Marketplace Launches for Business Users

by Terrence O'Brien on March 10, 2010 at 11:08 AM

Google Apps Marketplace Launches for Business Users

One of the few communities in which cloud-based services have been slow to take root is that of business. Sure, the average Joe is fine trusting his e-mail and scheduling to Google or Yahoo!, but enterprises still rely heavily on expensive desktop and server-based programs that cooperate with products like Microsoft's Exchange. Last night, though, Google fired yet another shot in the battle for the hearts and minds of business users when it launched the Google Apps Marketplace.

The premise is simple enough. Google Apps users with their own domains can search the marketplace for cloud-based applications that will integrate directly with their Google services. For example, domain managers could add the Aviary design suite or Inuit's Online Payroll app to their Google apps dashboard. These apps can also directly communicate with apps like Google Calendar or Talk to pull in schedules or to allow in-app instant messaging.

Right now, the Marketplace looks like it could be a winner, but -- as is the case with most young Google products -- there are some kinks to iron out. Google makes a big deal of the ability to log-in to these services with your Google Apps account and to communicate via OAuth (which passes information between Web sites without a user name or password), but many apps in the market place do not yet offer these features. Instead, the services place a link on your Apps dashboard and requires you to sign up or log in with an existing account for that specific service -- a layer of complexity that Google wants to avoid. We also ran into a problem when attempting to integrate our existing Freshbooks account (an invoicing service) with our Google Apps account. It appears that, at least for now, integrating the two requires setting up a new Freshbooks account.

As of launch, Google has 50 partners with apps in the Marketplace, and we expect plenty more to sign up in the coming days. Google is charging app partners a flat $100 fee for access to the app store and the ability to integrate with its services, and is asking for only 20-percent in the revenue-sharing scheme -- significantly lower than most of the competition. Most notably, Apple asks for 30-percent from iPhone app developers.

We'll be keeping a close eye on the Google Apps Marketplace as it evolves, and if we were Microsoft we'd be keeping an even closer eye on it. This could be the excuse to dive into the cloud that many businesses have been awaiting. [From: Official Google Blog and Mashable]

Tags: cloud, CloudComputing, google, GoogleApps, GoogleAppsForYourDomain, GoogleAppsMarketplace, top, web

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