Google Slated to Open Online Store to Compliment Google Apps

Google (News - Alert) is not about to let Apple claim complete dominance in the app stratosphere. According to a report in PC World, the search giant has plans set on opening an online store to sell third-party software to complement its Google Apps collaboration and communication hosted suite. The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Google may open this new store as early as March.

With this anticipated launch, Google would allow customers to purchase the software from its store and take a commission from the third-party vendors. A Google spokeswoman has declined to comment specifically on any articles published on the matter, but did point to Google’s current site, Solutions Marketplace.

This particular site features applications and professionals services from third-party developers that are designed to complement Google Apps and other Google enterprise products. There is a difference in Solutions Marketplace and the anticipated new third-party app site.

Visitors to the Solutions Marketplace will not find e-commerce capabilities and therefore any products or services they want to purchase are not available through this medium. Users will instead have to contact vendors by going directly to their websites or calling them on the phone.

“The Google Solutions Marketplace is an information resource and portal for customers to connect with third-party vendors,” the Google spokeswoman said via e-mail in response to inquiries by the Journal.

It does seem like the natural process of things for the Solutions Marketplace to gain e-commerce transaction capabilities as this is an area in which Google has considerable experience. The company already offers such tools as the Google Checkout and the Android (News - Alert) Market, as well as Google Apps. The speculation is now where or not the new site will be an evolution of the Solutions Marketplace or an entirely new site built from scratch.

According to Eric Schmidt (News - Alert), Google’s CEO, the company’s IT products for business are one of several attractive businesses to complement the company’s core online search ad business. Just how extensive the online store will be, we may just have to wait until March to know for sure.

In other Google news, check out TMCnet’s Rich Tehrani’s (News - Alert) take on the Android and how Google just may be the powerhouse to give Apple (News - Alert) a run for its money. As Tehrani noted, “The challenge for Google is the ecosystem issue and whether it can get developers – currently Android has one tenth the number of applications – meaning 10,000 to Apple’s 100,000 – to take its products seriously enough to program for them.” 

Could this new online store be the solution?