Business to business software can be a tough sell. Online B2B can be even a harder sell. While there is certainly money to be made, unless you?re one of the big players, the likelihood you?re going to succeed is pretty small. Starting today, Google is taking their roll as one of the big players and extending a platform to boost some smaller players.
Tonight, Google has unveiled their Google Apps Marketplace. This is an app store for enterprise apps in the cloud. Using a set of APIs, these third-party apps can deeply integrate their products within Google Apps, which already some 25 million people are using. And that also includes over 2 million businesses ranging from startups, to small businesses, to Fortune 500 companies.
For customers, this means a one-stop shop for a variety of applications that their business or organization can use. And it?s extremely simple to get started with apps in the marketplace ? it just takes 4 clicks, Google says (though that initial click will have to come from your domain admin to approve the use of the app). For developers, particularly small startup developers, it means instant access to more users than they can likely imagine. It also potentially means something more important: money.
Like the popular mobile app stores (Apple?s App Store and Google?s own Android Market), Google is allowing developers to sell their apps through this Marketplace. And they?re actually offering a better deal: Google will keep just 20% of the revenue, while the developers keep the other 80% (compared to a 30/70 split with the Android Market). The reason for this better split is that Google believes the B2B market is a bit different, and they want to entice developers to join on board. And instead of Apple?s App Store, which charges a $100 yearly fee to developers, Google is charging a one-time fee of $100 to enroll in the program and that?s for as many apps as you want to create.