Google Apps Premier Edition

Feb 22, 2007 by Matt Ammerman

This is just a mini-post to aggregate the plethora of commentary surrounding the announcement of Google Apps Premier Edition.  Phrases like “in direct competition with Microsoft Office” abound, but overall it’s apparent that there are still a tremendous amount of questions surrounding the maturity level of the application suite.

Here’s a bit of what’s being said:

• Don Dodge - Microsoft Emerging Business Team
• TechCrunch
• CNET
• Donna Bogatin – ZDNet
• Information Week

The question of competitive landscape comes up quite a bit in these discussions.  Is Google Apps Premier Edition as a whole product actually in direct competition with MS Office? Don Dodge offers some very good examples of why it is not. It seems that Google Apps’ aggregate features fall in between the intentional sparcity of the 37signals collaboration suite, and the common robustness and sheer power of MS Office.  As Google starts to elbow its way into the market MS is in a position to adapt and continue to innovate, it’s companies like Zoho and 37signals that should really be concerned (not to mention the price comparisons – $50 per user/per year for Google Apps Premier vs. $149 per user/ per month for 37signals’ BaseCamp).

What are your thoughts?  Where does Google’s play sit in the landscape of enterprise communication and collaboration?

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