Undisclosed sources at Google have revealed to the New York Times that Google is planning to set up their own online store, to sell business applications.
The software available in this online store will be from Google’s business partners, and it should help Google to increase the sale of Google Apps, which are not doing as well as their competitors are currently.
Google already has a website, called the ‘solutions marketplace‘, where Google Apps users can access several different add-on tools and support services such as Identity Management, Securities and Compliance, Migration and Sync. Services such as Medium/Large Deployment, Small Business Setup and Support, Custom Development, Training and Google Analytics are also available to download from this site.
The source reveals that the new store is being setup with the intention of providing better integration between Google Apps and the software provided by Google’s partners. Buying add-ons and services will thus become easier for end-users.
The solutions marketplace is just a site where users of Google Apps can connect with third-party developers. However, the business store will be likely to charge a nominal fee for whatever services or products are sold through it.
At present, about 20 million people are believed to use Google Apps, but only a small portion of them pay for these services.
In contrast, Google’s rival, Microsoft, has a far larger market share in the software sector, and almost 500 million people have paid for Microsoft Office.
Google refused to confirm or deny the setting up of a store. A statement issued by them says, “We’re constantly working with our partners to deliver more solutions to businesses, but we have nothing to announce at this time.”
The Wall Street Journal, though, believes that Google may make a formal announcement about the Apps Store by March.
