According to a report from The Wall Street Journal via CNET.com, Google is preparing an online store in which it will sell third-party business software to Google Apps customers.
Google's store could arrive as early as March with the works of third-party developers available as enhancements to Google's office productivity software suite, allowing Gmail and Google Docs users to purchase add-ons for features too specialized for the mainstream Google Apps product.
Google already has a similar solution in the form of the Google Solutions Marketplace (GSM). The difference is that GSM lists third-party software for both Google Apps and Enterprise Search, but it does not let the user buy the applications directly from Google.
Google was only able to issue this statement, "The Google Solutions Marketplace makes it easy for our customers to connect with an ecosystem of products and professional services. We're constantly working with our partners to deliver more solutions to businesses, but we have nothing to announce at this time."
The report also states that developers would share the revenue with Google. While a specific breakdown was not indicative, one can speculate that Google will employ a model similar to the Apple and Google mobile application stores (which would translate to about 70% of the revenue going to the developer).
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