Google Apps Marketplace Targets Microsoft on Two Fronts

(MoneyWatch)  When people talk about an apps marketplace, they usually mean an attempt to reduce the dominance of the Apple (AAPL) iPhone app store. Google's (GOOG) announcement last night of the Google Apps Markeplace was ostensibly about positioning Google productivity applications for to better compete against Microsoft Office 2010. But Google might has well have also called it the Auxiliary Android App Shop, because it will also give its handset operating system a boost in a critical market, and should make Microsoft and RIM (RIM) nervous.

Actually, I shouldn't limit the applause that way, because just on the level of supporting Google Apps, this is impressively smart on many levels:

• Google opens a way to make its cloud computing office productivity suite broader than it could ever hope to do alone.
• By admitting that it cannot do everything itself, Google subtly contrasts itself to Microsoft and attracts third-party developers, similar to the ones that helped Microsoft the success it is today.
• Google gets the support of many companies that will help promote Google Apps.
• Given that the marketplace includes Zoho projection management, CRM, and web-based meeting applications, Google shows itself able to embrace some competitors and encourage them to become more specialized niche players.
• By creating its own product ecosystem, Google strengthens its positioning against Microsoft.

But beyond its cloud-based apps, Google just improved its chances in the mobile marketplace. Although these third-party apps aren't specifically for handsets running Android, they run on a cloud and so let mobile devices tap into much more powerful capabilities than they can run natively. You know that Android will be compatible with Google Apps. Now Google can push that connection and its hardware partners can offer a corporate-friendly mobile platform that offers great potential -- far more than you get with native apps for the iPhone, Windows Phone 7, or Blackberry. This makes Android a contender in the enterprise market, particularly if Google lets corporations tie in their own cloud apps.