Google has unveiled its Apps Marketplace, letting millions of administrators buy integrated third-party cloud applications to deploy on their domains.
It will also provide software vendors with access to the Google Apps customer base of 25 million users from two million businesses and universities across the world.
Google wants a slice of the pie in return for use of its "streamlined" service, asking for 20 per cent of each developer's revenue from new customers - although this is less than the 30 per cent cut that Apple takes from developers.
To make payment easier, Google will be launching a new billing service, "designed to be flexible enough to accommodate both established developers and brand new start-ups", noted Steve Bazyl, from the Google Apps Marketplace team. This will automatically manage the Marketplace's revenue share fees as well.
The applications will integrate with Google Apps using open protocols. "These integrations improve the efficiency of your businesses by allowing users to share data and collaborate on projects as well as connect to users' daily workflows in apps like Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Contacts," explained Scott McMullan, Google Apps partner lead, writing on the Google Enterprise blog.
Thus far, more than 50 developers have integrated applications with Google Apps and made them available on the Marketplace.
In addition to Google's offerings, this new arrival is firmly in keeping with its cloud computing lineup. Google Europe boss John Herlihy recently said that the move towards the cloud will lead to mobile devices becoming increasingly capable, and eventually kill off the desktop.
