Google Apps tops 1 million businesses
Google is well known as a one-trick pony.
Almost all of the company's revenue comes from its search engine, which last quarter accounted for more than $5 billion. New initiatives, such as the Chrome browser, Google Gears, and Google Friend Connect, are focused on building a mostly open-source Internet operating system out of Google technology in order to funnel more user data and targeted advertising opportunities into the Googleplex financial engine.
It's easy to draw parallels to Microsoft, which gradually built the dominant 20th century operating system and applications platform. Bill Gates and company realized that attracting developers to the Windows platform was key. Google is following that advice with its open-source projects and allowing its mad scientists to try to remake the early 21st century software world and take on Microsoft.
Microsoft has led the way with productivity software, gaining a more than 90 percent share of market with Microsoft Office. Google is hoping to replicate Microsoft's office suite success with Google Apps. It's far less feature-rich than Microsoft Office, but Google Apps Premier edition is far cheaper at $50 per user per year.
For some companies, Google Apps is "good enough," and its cloud-based, collaborative core is an advantage--no Microsoft SharePoint server required. Even with a few enterprise wins, Google Apps is a puny business. According to a Fortune article, Google brought in about $4 million with its Google Apps business in 2007, compared with $12.2 billion for Microsoft Office. Google Apps is a profitable business, according to Matthew Glotzbach, enterprise product management director at Google.
Since early this year Google has been touting 500,000 active business customers, primarily small businesses, using at least one of the Google Apps, and more than 10 million active users. In addition, thousands of universities, with more than one million active users, are using Google Apps, the company said. So far, Google's biggest wins are Valeo, a leading automotive suppliers, with 32,000 users, and the District of Columbia, with 38,000 employees.
However, the vast majority of Google Apps users are not paying customers. The company maintains that "hundreds of thousands" of users are paying the $50 annual fee. The $50 per-user-per-year Premier Edition offers several features lacking in the free Standard Edition, including Postini messaging security, APIs for integrating Google Apps with IT infrastructure, 24x7 support, 99.9 percent uptime guarantee for e-mail, Google Video and 25GB of storage per account.
At this point, Google is underplaying the number of Google Apps business customers. The company has been saying that it is adding 3,000 businesses a day, which amounts to over 1 million per year. The reality today is that Google has more than a million Apps business customers. In addition, the Apps suite continues to fill out, most recently with Google Video.
It took Microsoft years to build a base of applications and developer ecosystem for Windows and Office. Google faces the same uphill climb for Apps and its fledgling Web operating system. The company hopes to ride on the backs of the younger generation that has grown up on the Web and identify with the Google brand. As the Google generation moves into positions of purchase authority within businesses, Google is betting that those decision makers will shun Microsoft, especially as Apps product features improve. Of course, the resilient and relentless Microsoft will respond to Google's challenge when it is more than a $4 million or even $20 million blip.
Dan Farber is editor in chief of CBS Interactive News, which includes CBSNews.com and CNET News. He has more than 25 years of experience as an editor and journalist covering technology. E-mail Dan. 
Google is definitely looking towards the future by investing in cloud computing and software-as-a-service (Sas) for the long haul. They offer resources such as the following whitepapers, Comprehensive Review of Security and Vulnerability Protections for Google Apps and Curbing Costs with Google Apps. Google also offers an online videos, Google Apps: Quick Tour, to introduce key concepts and ease the transition from traditional desktop apps to apps "in the cloud".
No thanks Google...I would rather spend my $50 bucks on gas and use Open Office
Chrome is spyware mascaraing as a browser.
The question is, suppose Microsoft brings Office to the web with all of its local functionality integrated into the web in a way that people would expect? Google would pretty much become irrelevant in that category. What I am realizing about even Chrome, its a complete rip off of both IE 8 and Firefox. Google is doing what both Microsoft and Apple did in the 80's by incorporating technologies from XEROX Parc and utilizing the open architecture of a proprietary IBM to help create PC ecosystem.
But Microsoft today is just as formidable and aware as Google. The first thing they realize is that Google is a threat and that Google wants to be the 21st century version of them. But if you are gonna put out crappy web services, that nobody hardly uses are does not give users the 100 percent satisfaction of establishments like Microsoft Office and Apple, then Google is just an innovative company that makes ideas that nobody hardly uses are is interested in. The only thing Google has going for them is their search engine and ad business which I am positive Microsoft will surpass or compete with aggressively in the near future.
The addition for off-line work this year make this bundle even more interesting. With current pace for development of gOffice and FF3.1 it is easy to predict readiness for daily use next summer for sure.
And If you consider seriously security issues for your data while traveling you can have a second look at them again now.
Microsoft Office and Google Apps, no thanks. The future is OpenOffice.
Firefox, Open Office, whatever... Even Microsoft... Simply does not have the eyes that Google has. Google can put a large image on their homepage for a day and get that same audience that would cost anyone else millions of dollars.
- by maverick_nick September 4, 2008 5:05 AM PDT
- I find it hilarious that people even consider comparing Google's apps to Microsoft Office. It's like comparing VW Bug to a Ferrari. Sure both will get you to your destination, but it's not just about the result as it's about the sensation along the way. On a more serious note, I think that Open Office has more of a challenge than Google ever will. If you want to knock up a simple doc, then Google's great, but Office has so many features that you take for granted and you'll only realize it when you're trying to do something in one of Google's apps and you can't. My Windows Mobile phone with Office mobile can do more than Google's apps.
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(11 Comments)As long as Microsoft maintains their massive developer base, then they've got nothing to worry about. Remember, that Google hasn't succeeded at much other than search. Everything else hasn't brought them much revenue.