Google launches web store for business apps

Google has launched a web store for the expansion of Google Apps beyond the default tools offered, as select third-party apps can now be fully integrated with the ones offered by the California-based company.

Through the Google Apps Marketplace, users can now browse through a variety of cloud-based applications and add the ones they like into their inventory. These apps can share data with current ones like Gmail, Google Docs, etc, which would enable users to build things to their liking.

“Once installed to a company’s domain, these third-party applications work like native Google applications,” wrote Chris Vander Mey, product manager for the Google Apps Marketplace, in the company’s official blog.

“With administrator approval, they may interact with calendar, email, document and/or 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, Google Apps users can access the other applications without signing in separately to each. The Google Apps Marketplace eliminates the worry about software updates, keeping track of different passwords and manual syncing and sharing of data, thereby increasing business productivity and lessening frustrations for users and IT administrators alike. That’s the power of the cloud.”