Google Announces Apps Marketplace

Google is bringing the app store concept to business cloud computing, giving software developers a storefront for Google Apps customers. The Google Apps Marketplace will allow Google Apps users to purchase third-party applications to run atop the Google Apps suite.

Developers will have to pay a one-time $100 fee to list their applications in the store, and Google will get a 20 percent cut of all applications sold through the store.

Google's interest in such a store was first revealed last month by The Wall Street Journal. The idea is that although Google has an army of capable software developers, it can't hope to anticipate the needs of every single Google Apps users. Third-party developers can fill those gaps and make Google Apps more useful to businesses with unique needs that don't quite fit into the Google Apps suite.