Google opens Apps Marketplace, third party programs available for businesses

Internet giant Google has opened the Apps Marketplace to sell third party business applications and programs, in the company’s latest push towards the corporate market. 

It comes as the search market leader is in the midst of a rivalry with software giant Microsoft, with both attempting to convince businesses to join the cloud with their respective offerings.

The company announced in a blog post millions of businesses are using the Google Apps suite to create documents, store calendar data and manage various business activities. However, product manager Chris Mey said businesses were asking for more.

“We’ve found that when businesses begin to experience the benefits of cloud computing, they want more. We’re often asked when we’ll offer a wider variety of business applications — from accounting and project management to travel planning and human resources management.”

“But we certainly can’t and won’t do it all, and there are hundreds of business applications for which we have no particular expertise.”

The Apps Marketplace is designed for customers to purchase software designed by third parties in sectors where Google has no interest, or perhaps resources, for creating programs.

But the company says one of the biggest drawing cards is the integration with the Google Apps interface, negating the need to jump between separate desktop-based programs.

“Users are often forced to create and remember multiple passwords, cut and paste data between applications, and jump between multiple interfaces just to complete a simple task,” Mey said.

Apps are sold on a subscription basis, with monthly and annual prices ranging from as low as $25 to in the hundreds, with the billing handled by Google.

Developers must pay a one-off $100 fee to register for the marketplace, with Google then taking a 20% cut of all revenue earned from sales on the store.

The company used a number of examples including an online payroll program, a project management app which allows businesses to share documents and projects, a database organisational tool and a program which allows users to move swiftly between different Google apps, such as the calendar or Gmail.

“Once installed to a company’s domain, these third-party applications work like native Google applications. With administrator approval, they may interact with calendar, email, document and/or contact data to increase productivity.”

“Administrators can manage the applications from the familiar Google Apps control panel, and employees can open them from within Google Apps. With OpenID integration, Google Apps users can access the other applications without signing in separately to each.”

The company has emphasised the use of cloud computing with the marketplace, saying it negates the need for software updates, keeping track of passwords and frustrations with sharing data.

It comes as Microsoft is attempting to catch up to Google’s dominance in the cloud-computing sector, with chief executive Steve Ballmer saying recently the company will soon focus entirely on the cloud.

It intends to launch a web apps suite similar to the Google Docs programs this year, along with the release of its Office 2010 bundle.