Google app store targets third-party developers

BANGALORE, INDIA: Google, on Tuesday evening launched its online app store, called the Google Apps Marketplace to enable third-party developers to do business by selling their applications.

Through this online app store, Google would allow its customers to discover, deploy and manage cloud applications that integrate with Google Apps.

According to a blog post by Scott McMullan, Google Apps partner lead, Google Enterprise team, “The Google Apps Marketplace gives software vendors access to a rapidly growing Google Apps customer base of 25 million users from 2 million businesses and universities.”

Fifty companies, which include Intuit, Manymoon, JIRA Studio, etc are already selling on this platform.

The store embraces open standards like OpenID and OAuth, and gives software vendors freedom of choice for both billing arrangement and hosting platform.

With OpenID integration, Google Apps users can access the other applications without signing in separately to each, said another blog at Google's official website.

It further added that once installed to a company's domain, these third-party applications work like native Google applications. 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.