Google to Loosen up Apps Contract Terms

Google will allow companies to sign up users for its paid Apps for Job hosted collaboration and communication suite along a month-to-month foundation, without having to commit them to an annual contract.

Called the Flexible Plan, this inexperient option will suit available globally in the future weeks and will let companies pay out United States of America$5 per user per month, providing more flexibleness to add and drop employees from month to month.

Google will retain to offer its alive charge sit of $50 per user each year, which requires a one-class contract.

The Flexible Plan leave be available to whatever company that signs up for Apps for Business online.

Google envisions the Flexible Plan every bit being most attractive to small businesses, because their stave and cash flow can change dramatically in a short period of time, Google said in a blog post on Tuesday.

In addition, Google wish now charge Apps for Business customers at the end of from each one month, as conflicting to up front, and testament add the option of direct debit payments in the U.S., UK, Austria, France, FRG, Italy, Netherlands and Spain.

"The new flexible charge options will be welcome in the marketplace. The fewer money customers possess to put upwards figurehead the better, and the Thomas More granular the billing options the better," aforesaid Gartner analyst Matt Cain via e-mail.

Apps for Business resellers will be capable to offer these new billing options in the coming months.

Simultaneously, Google incoming month will also shrink the supreme number of users an organization keister have in the free, standardized Google Apps edition from 50 to 10. That deepen leave affect companies that sign on connected operating theater after Whitethorn 10. Companies that already use the free Google Apps variation will represent able to continue exploitation information technology with up to 50 users.

This cap connected the number of users doesn't apply to the Google Apps for Department of Education edition, designed for schools and universities, which is free, nor to the special pricing options Google has for nonprofit organizations.

The Flexible Plan could cost prompted by the upcoming set up this year of Google Apps rival Office 365 from Microsoft. Office 365, the upgrade to Microsoft's cloud over-hosted collaboration rooms Patronage Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), testament have several pricing options, starting with a au naturel-bones, e-ring armor-only version that will cost $2 per user per month. At the last last, Office 365 will have a adaptation featuring Office 2020 Professional Positive on a subscription ground for $24 per user per calendar month, along with other entourage components like SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online.

"Taking departed a unoccupied entitlement, by mandating that new customers with over 10 users have to buy the armed service, will not be touristy and testament believable help Microsoft's own gnomish business push with the forthcoming Office 365 service," Cain said. "It is understandable, however, that Google would want to monetize this probative market demographic."