From today, companies can't sign up for the free version of Google Apps. They are suggested to start the 30-day free trial of Google Apps for Business and then begin paying $50 per user per year. Existing free version users won't be affected. The free version of Google Apps for several years, was, perhaps, one of the main engines of SaaS market. Business owners trusted Google and liked the familiar interface of GMail, Calendar, Google Docs - so they didn't mind to move a part of their business activities to the cloud office. At first, the free Google Apps version had almost no difference from the paid one and was only limited by the number of users in one domain (up to 200). In 2009 this limit was reduced to 50, and in the past year - to 10 users. Today - to zero. Why Google did it?
Google is hardly going to earn more money via this step. They earn on advertising and the revenue from Google Apps - is a drop in the ocean for them.
Probably the main reason - is their partners who have troubles with selling the suite that is available for free. And Google needs to develop the partner network if it wants to compete with Microsoft.
On the other hand, this Google's move can be a positive signal for the SaaS market. Perhaps Google decided that SaaS market is already mature enough and can live without its free injections. Also, Google clears the way for many SaaS-startups that couldn't compete with Google's free services.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/liventerprise/~3/Csh5dcCHK74/
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