Google Heats Up Cloud Battle with Microsoft
Going head to head with Microsoft, The Wall Street Journal reports that Google is preparing to launch an online store that sells business software integrating with its cloud services. Google will apparently hire third-party software companies to design business software which it will then integrate with and enhance Google Apps.
The Journal quotes unnamed sources as saying this is Google’s plan and that the store, a new and improved version of its Solutions Marketplace, will come online in March 2010. Customers would be allowed to buy Google’s partners’ software on the site, and users will be able to immediately access or use their applications – via the Gmail or Google Docs menus.
What are some of the improvements to Apps that Google’s looking at? Think tinkering that produces enhanced security features, the ability to import contacts, tools to access online files offline. Officially, Google is not talking about this yet: The Journal quoted a Google spokesman as saying that the company is “constantly working with our partners to deliver more solutions to businesses, but we have nothing to announce at this time.”
The new store is seen as part of the company’s business strategy to grow its online software business – and to get customers away from Microsoft programs. After all, Google can’t rely on advertising revenue forever.
But one consequence of this new strategy of relying on outside software developers is that there could be quality issues. I hate to even think of anything negative. But, indeed, concern about storing data online is why many large enterprises are fearful of migrating from internally housed Microsoft applications to cloud-based ones.
So, this could be another reason why it’ll become more important than ever for companies using Google’s suite of software (or Azure or any other cloud platform, for that matter) to employ back-up plans to monitor the reliability of their cloud services and help keep their data available and safe.