Google Apps Marketplace

Google Apps Marketplace is a product of Google Inc. It is an online store designed to help people and organizations to discover, purchase, and deploy integrated cloud web applications that work with Google Apps (Gmail, Google Docs, Google Sites, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, etc.) and with third party software. Some apps are free, some are paid for. Apps are based on Google APIs or on Google Apps Script. Google Apps business administrators can manage a single directory of both users and applications from the same unified interface as Google Apps, reducing overhead and improving security. It also serves as a directory for Professional Services related to Google Apps.

Overview
Apps Marketplace adds third-party applications with federated logins tied to a federated identity and a variety of integration points for the users of Google Apps. The Google Apps Marketplace allows organizations using Google Apps to discover, purchase, and deploy integrated cloud applications and advertise professional services for use by users within those domains. Developers can use the Google Apps Marketplace to create listings for services and applications targeted at organizations, institutions, or businesses using Google Apps. Market place includes CRM, project management, customer support, finance and email marketing etc. Once the application is developed, the admin can then sell his application or services directly to the users. Developers can build their own app and it is not compulsory to use App Engine. They can develop and integrate applications with Google Apps using the Google Apps APIs or extension points such as Gmail contextual gadgets.

Once market place is installed on a company's domain, these third-party applications work like native Google applications. With administrator approval, they interact with calendar, email, document and contact data to increase productivity. Administrators can manage the applications from the familiar Google Apps control panel, and employees can open them from within Google Apps. With OpenID integration, users can access the other applications without signing in separately to each. Integrated apps include single sign-on capability, thereby limiting the number of passwords users must remember. It eliminates software updates, remembering passwords and manually synchronizing and sharing of data. As a result the business productivity is increased and the IT users and administrators can work less. Google charges a $100 fee and 20% revenue share.

Features
Some applications are limited to particular versions of Google Apps. Regardless of version, the third-party applications add tools that Google has not added to the core of Apps (Google Docs, Presentations, Calendar, Gmail, etc.) Tools used by developers range from simple expense reporting and invoicing for businesses to enhanced presentation software to full-blown CRM. Many applications are free and add value to small businesses. Majority use a free model that makes them easy to test.

How It Works
There are two types of listings supported by the Marketplace:

A General Listing refers the user to the developer’s website to install or to get more information about the listing. An Installable Listing allows user(s) to install the application directly from the Marketplace.

To search the Marketplace for a certain application place the name of the application into the search bar. To search by categories, select the desired category on the left side-bar of the website. By clicking on the category a list of the top installs for the category will appear. To see more there is a link named “See all” at the bottom of the page.

To create an installable listing in the Marketplace the developers follow a few simple steps:

1. Develop and integrate the application with Google Apps using the Google Apps APIs or extension points such as Gmail contextual gadgets.

2. Include the required integration with Single Sign-On.

3. Create an Application Manifest to define import config information for the app.

4. Create a listing for the application in the Marketplace. Choose the option that allows the application to be installed. The application can be set up to be free of charge or the developer can set their own price.

5. Install and test the application in their Google Apps domain.

6. Submit the application for approval.

Product Categories
The Marketplace offers a variety of products and services. These range from applications for organizations, institutions, or businesses. The following are a list of the Product Categories available in the Marketplace:


 * Applications


 * Accounting & Finance
 * Admin Tools
 * Calendar & Scheduling
 * Customer Management
 * Document Management
 * Productivity
 * Project Management
 * Sales & Marketing
 * Security & Compliance
 * Workflow
 * EDU


 * Professional Services


 * Archiving & Discovery
 * Custom Application Development
 * Google Analytics
 * Medium-Large Business Implementation
 * Small Business Implementation
 * Support & Managed Services
 * Training & Change Management
 * EDU Specialists
 * Google Mini Deployment
 * GSA Deployment


 * Enterprise Search


 * Content Connectors
 * Search Extensions
 * OneBox Modules

Google Apps For Business
Google Apps are used largely in companies for business purposes. Business people can use the apps available in the Google Apps Marketplace to better communicate their ideas. One popular App is Box.net where people can store files and share them with one another and oftentimes even fax and print off the app. Companies can collect data from their employees and customers quickly using the Google App called SurveyMonkey. Another favorite Google App among business people is SlideRocket which is a Presentation app which can be pulled on the web by multiple users. These favorite Google Apps have given business more efficient ways to work and communicate. An administrator of a Google Apps Marketplace account can choose which apps to buy and/or install and the information they choose to grant to these apps. In the case of business usage, the owner/top manager of a company may be in charge of which apps their employees will use. Navigating the Google Apps Marketplace site is rather simple, as you can search a topic and check off boxes indicating what types of features you want the app to have. Google will then display appropriate options to you at which time you can choose which app to enable immediately if it’s free, or pay for if it’s not.

Improvements in the Business Apps
Over two million (and counting) businesses have begun using Google Apps What created the Google Apps Marketplace is that although businesses enjoyed the benefits of cloud computing. However, Google was not in the business of creating special business apps, such as for project management or accounting. Other software providers were creating these business apps and users would have to leave the Google site and create a new account for each different software provider they got an app from. This also made the transfer of information between apps very difficult. The Google Apps Marketplace puts many software companies selling apps in one place and allows them to sell their apps to users right from the Google site so that all of a user’s apps are integrated and under the same account

Google Apps for Education
Google Apps for Education is a collaborative tool provided to students and faculty free of charge. This App can be found in education category of Google Apps Marketplace. Over 10 million students and faculty use Google Apps for Education. This app category provides almost 20 different applications with the primary apps being Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Sites, and Vault.These collaborative tools are always kept up to date and allow for students and administration to work efficiently and productively. All information shared within these tools are stored in “the cloud.” Therefore, users have access and ability to edit their work from any computer at any time which allows for real-time editing and sharing. All data being stored belongs to the user, Google does not own the information the user shares or edits.

Reception of the Google Apps Marketplace
Since its launch in March 2010, the Apps Marketplace has received mostly positive reception. It has allowed larger scale companies and organizations to implement Google apps with their business models, and allowing for single sign-in access to a plethora of content on Google’s platform. The transition to cloud-based business models is a very modern development in the technological world made possible by the increasing storage capabilities of servers and high speed fiber optic cables. Regardless of the additional effort, a few large corporations have shifted over to the Marketplace platform.

The addition of the Google “Drive” feature to enterprise accounts has allowed for a current spurt in growth in application development for the Marketplace, which had originally began with a modest 50 applications. In addition to the incorporation of the Google Drive in new applications, some developers have taken it upon themselves to incorporate an interface with Gmail, for which Google has provided the necessary API’s. Since then it has grown to above 200 and the goal of Google is to ensure the selection process of new applications is thorough to ensure quality application products for users of the App Marketplace. As in most of the popular application based platforms, a few application developers tried to trick the Marketplace’s ranking algorithm, which threatened the integrity of the Marketplace and its review system. This was quickly addressed by employees of Google’s App Marketplace team.

Staff Picks
Staff picks are chosen by members of the Google Apps Marketplace team based on their editorial opinions. The merits on which the apps are chosen are quality core functionality, valuable and deep integration's with Google Apps, landing page on web site explaining about Google Apps integrations to customers, customer reviews, ratings and success stories. Some of them are:
 * Mavenlink (May 10, 2011)
 * Solve360 (May 20, 2011)
 * Smartsheet (June 1, 2011)
 * GQueues (June 8, 2011)
 * JIRA Studio (June 21, 2011)
 * Nimble (September 12, 2011)