Google Apps includes Gmail, a calendar, documents (a word processor), spreadsheets, instant messaging and Sites, a wiki-based technology that allows non-technical users to build websites. All of those tools can be accessed for free in a consumer version of Google Apps, which anyone who signs up for a Gmail account receives.
Google Apps for businesses, which the Labs announcement this week pertains to, costs US$50 per user per year. In addition to the features in the consumer version, it has security from Postini (a security vendor Google acquired last year), more storage space per user, technical support and a customized look that includes a company's logo.
If a business customer feels adventurous enough to try Labs for Google Apps, there are three main apps being tested there, including Google Moderator. Moderator essentially allows Google Apps users to ask questions after a meeting and vote on those questions. In theory, questions that get voted up faster could be addressed by management faster.
One question that remains for Google: Will Google Apps business users want to take time out of their day to try the new features?
According to Wettemann of Nucleus Research, users of the consumer Gmail service who are already fans of the product may be more willing. On the other hand, people who have been tethered to Microsoft Outlook and Office for nearly two decades might not be as enthusiastic to test new Google technology.
"If you want broad adoption, you can't assume everyone is comfortable with your paradigm [for software development]," she says. "The people that don't have Gmail don't necessarily get it."
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