Google showed off a bunch of new products for business users on Wednesday at its Google I/O developers conference.
Here's the rundown:
Drive for Work: For $10/user/month businesses can get unlimited cloud storage and all the other Google Apps features, plus new management tools for IT administrators. Enterprises can also still buy the previous version of Google Apps for $5 per user per month, which includes 30GB of online storage.
Android for Work: Google is adding a feature sometimes called "containerization" where the device is split into two sides, one for work (apps and security controlled by IT) and one for play (apps that IT can't touch).
If this sounds like Samsung Knox, which Samsung launched in February 2013, that's because it is. Google has partnered with Samsung to use parts of Knox in Android, according to Samsung.
Better compatibility with Microsoft Office documents: An app called Quickoffice, which lets you open and edit Microsoft Office documents, is now fully integrated into Google's word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation software. You no longer need to buy an extra app to work with Microsoft Office documents. You can simply open them on Android devices and in the Chrome browser, and, soon in iOS.
A bunch of upgrades to the Google Cloud: These upgrades includes new big data services that will crunch through lots of data instantly, and better tools for correcting app performance problems.
Google's Sundar Pichai also trotted out some interesting, if somewhat baffling, stats on how well Google is doing with enterprise customers. He said that 58% of the Fortune have "gone Google," meaning they use some Google enterprise products. Ditto for 72 of the top 100 universities, and 67 of the "top 100 startups." However, he didn't mention where this mysterious list of "top 100" startups came from
Regardless, the company showcased its enterprise products on Day 1 of Google I/O and the message is clear: Business users, Google wants you.
