Google Launches Fee-Based Biz Apps

Vendor partners offering integration to the apps include Avaya and Postini. Salesforce.com, already allied with Google in some areas, is also a new customer. As is Procter & Gamble, according to Google.

The Google Apps fee includes 24 by 7 phone support and guaranteed 99.9 uptime for Gmail, Google said. . Google has blazed a trail for the so-called "Web 2.0" generation of applications. But it is also starting to build a network of partners for its search appliance, particularly targeting VARs with Microsoft SharePoint expertise.

Several Microsoft partners said they are impressed with the support they are getting from Google. One long-time Microsoft VAR said he's gotten more qualified leads from Google in the past year—he called them "pre-sold deals"—than he's had from Microsoft in five years.

Given the level of paranoia about Google technology in Redmond, Wash., Microsoft may have to worry that Google is stealing its thunder among partners as well, this VAR said.

That would be ironic given Microsoft's partner-centric history compared to Google's direct-sales or ad-sales focused software-as-a-service orientation.

It is probably no coincidence that Microsoft has slated an analyst-only call on its "vision and strategy for Software + Services" for Thursday afternoon. The call will be hosted by Charles Fitzgerald, general manager for Microsoft's Platform Strategy Group.

Despite huge investment in its "Live" search capability, Microsoft has made little headway in Web search, according to recent Comscore figures. (For earlier figures, see this site.)

Microsoft executives have maintained they're satisfied with their progress in search, especially inside corporate firewalls. The conventional wisdom is that Microsoft is attacking Google's search base while Google is counterattacking on the desktop apps front.

Microsoft is also prepping an array of hosted SharePoint-based services for small businesses under its Office Live brand as well as more consumer-focused hosted services under its Windows Live rubric.