Google Apps

We sat down with Google Enterprise Vice President Amit Singh in his Mountain View office this week to discuss the direction and plans of the Google Enterprise team.  While he did not share the all-important revenue numbers with us, he did shine a light on Google Apps’ impressive growth across all of its markets.

Singh was a two-decade alumnus of Oracle when he came with many, many others to the GooglePlex last March to help Dave Girouard and the Enterprise Team sell to big business.  Oracle announced this week very disappointing earnings that has thrown the stock price off almost 15 percent.  Meanwhile, Google Apps is growing like gangbusters; Perhaps Singh’s timing is good.

NewGeekGuide: Hi, Amit. I assume we’re here to talk about your big GM announcement.

Singh: We have no big announcements today but look forward to a whole assortment of announcements in mid-January.  We tend to announce new customers after implementation rather than after sign up. Here’s a hint: we’re growing very big in South America…and Asia, where we’re building three monster data centers in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore that should all be online in the next 12-18 months.

NewGeekGuide: Speaking on that, Apps has had a pretty solid year.  It seems like you have a big announcement almost every week and new features added to Google Docs every day.

Singh: It has been incredible across the board. We are seeing double the daily signups and about 5,000 organizations per day vs. 3,000 per day at the beginning of the year [those numbers also seems to point to bigger signups] and a lot of those are paying users.

NewGeekGuide: You mentioned the new Hong Kong data center and it appears that Google’s plan for China is to deal with Hong Kong’s system.  But what about users in China? Certainly international organizations have to be wary of Google’s relationship with greater China.

Expand
Expanding
Close

To get you in the Christmas spirit and celebrate the holiday season, Google Music is offering 100 classic holiday songs for 25 cents each and a selection of 25 albums for $3.99. The offerings are wide ranging from Coldplay, to Nat King Cole, to Snoop Dogg and Weezer. In addition to classical, classic, and modern Christmas songs, there is also a “Bah Humbug” playlist featuring anti-Christmas songs.

Some of the $3.99 albums being offered include- A Charlie Brown Christmas, Andrea Bocelli’s “My Christmas”, A Very She & Him Christmas by She & Him, The Spirit of Christmas by Ray Charles, and the Jackson 5’s Ultimate Christmas Collection. 

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google has just started rolling out an update to the Gmail app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch with a few new welcomed features. First off, users now have the ability to set a custom signature for messages as well as a vacation responder. Both of those new features will be available via the gear icon at the top of the app’s new menu. The update also includes support for nested labels and the usual “bug fixes and UI improvements”.

A new Scribbles feature allows you to open a canvas, draw a picture or sketch with multiple colors, brush sizes and line elements, and attach it to a message within Gmail. Scribbles is available now in both the Gmail iOS app and Gmail mobile web app. Another notable and highly requested change is a new notification sound on iOS 5, making it easier to tell when you’ve received an email

Google also mentioned in their blog post that they are continuing to work on some of the most requested features from users including multiple login support, banner notifications, and a “send as” feature to mail send mail from multiple accounts within the app.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Last week Google rolled out indoor maps for a number of airports and retailers in Version 6.0 of Google Maps on Android, and now they have just added 3D maps for a bunch more cities in the desktop version of the app. Adding to the 3D map experience already available in select cities throughout the US, Japan, and Europe, Google announced on their Lat Long Blog today that a few more notable cities have been added including Rome, Seville, and Las Vegas.

This brings up the total number of cities with 3D maps to 18 with Foster City, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Norfolk, Palo Alto, Portland, Redwood City, Riverside, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, Santa Cruz, and Sunnyvale in the US, and Rome, IT, Rotterdam, NL; Seville, ES; Stuttgart, DE, and Amsterdam, NL in Europe.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google took to the Official Google Enterprise Blog today to share that the U.S. Coast Guard Academy is the first service academy to adopt the Google Apps platform. The 1,100 cadets at the academy started transitioning to Google Apps in January for all of their email, collaboration, and course assignments. They’ve even taken advantage of video chat features to collaborate and communicate with friends and family back home.

Google described out one group of cadets collaborated using a number of Google services to create a Google Site for their mini gas turbine engine project:

The cadets are also using these tools to improve collaboration on team projects. One group of four cadets created a Google Site for their capstone project designing a mini gas turbine engine. They could simultaneously edit spreadsheets, use video chat to share ideas, and even work together with students and professors from other universities to gather input. The cadets are a driving force of change across the campus. Today, nearly half the faculty and staff have converted to Google Apps and that number continues to climb.

The U.S. Coast Guard Academy is the one of the oldest federal service academies having been founded in the late 1880’s with a small campus in Connecticut. No word on whether Google+, which is now also available to Google Apps users, has also been made available to cadets.

Expand
Expanding
Close

As expected, T-Mobile has joined Google execs on stage for the unveiling of the new Google Music iTunes competitor, announcing that users will be able to purchase Google Music through their phone bill. While announcing 90% of their smartphones run on Android, T-Mobile execs also announced they will have an exclusive selection of Google Music for their customers from artists such as Drake and Busta Rhymes.

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lv1xras-zM&feature=player_embedded]

Alongside the announcement of their new Google Music store, Google has announced the “artist hub” allowing users to upload and sell their original content- full albums or individual songs-  as well as build and customize their artist page for display in the store. An artist can even make changes to their uploaded content at any time, including adding or editing tracks, editing an artist bio page, or including “new demos, live recordings and unreleased tracks”.

The service essentially works the same way developers sell their apps through the Android Market. Goog says artists will keep 70% of revenues and also get to set the sale price of their music. There will also be a one time fee of $25, but no other fees associated with the service.

Once users purchase an artist’s uploaded music, the artist will be able to manage their revenues and track profits through a “Payments” tab within the artist hub. One of the first notable artists using the service is DJ Tiesto, who will be debuting his new single today. Visit music.google.com/artists/ to learn more.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google’s pedicab trike is once again out and about capturing 360-degree Street View shots of its surroundings, this time NY Times found a team of Google cyclists capturing 58 miles of pathways in New York’s Central Park. Earlier this month Google started adding local parks to the Street View feature in Google Maps, some of which include High Line Park in New York City, Kensington Gardens in London, and the Knuthenborg Safari Park in Denmark.

So far Google has traveled to 20+ countries across the globe to capture panoramic views of areas inaccessible by their Street View cars, so expect many more parks, paths, and other outdoor spaces coming to Maps in the near future. They even recently attached the trike to the front of a train to capture 122km of the Albula-Bernina railway line in the Swizz Alps.

No word on when exactly you’ll see Central Park added to Maps, but it typically takes a few months from the time the trike is deployed. You can check out some of the parks already available in Google Maps here.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google’s Think Insight research portal for marketers, which provides trends, infograhpics, videos, and quick stats based on hundreds of Google studies, is officially out of beta and ready for public consumption.

The site includes an extensive research library, facts & stats, and a selection of planning tools- Real-Time Insights Finder (pictured below) allows you to find what people are searching for, clicking, and watching online in real-time, there’s insights into mobile usage with Our Mobile Planet Tool, as well as tools for search and benchmark tools for getting insights on ad campaigns and industry trends.

What type of info will you find on Think Insights? Google shares a few examples:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Update: Google has now pulled the app from the App Store following a notifications bug many users have reported experiencing. Apps guy at Google David Giouard sent out the following tweet: “Googla culpa! Sorry but we pushed a bad version of our iOS app for Gmail. More info shortly – we’re working on it.” Google issued the following apology via their Twitter account:

Following reports that Google was about to launch a native iOS Gmail app, they just announced an official app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. More sceenshots below.

We’ve created a new Gmail app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. We’ve combined your favorite features from the Gmail mobile web app and iOS into one app so you can be more productive on the go. It’s designed to be fast, efficient and take full advantage of the touchscreen and notification capabilities of your device. And it’s one more reason to switch to Gmail.

Features listed on the iTunes page include notifications for new messages, threaded conversation views, the much-needed priority inbox feature, the ability to send and open attachments, and of course, search capabilities. You will also have access to archiving, labeling, starring, deleting, and reporting spam. It looks like we are finally getting the full-fledged, feature-rich native Gmail experience on iOS. We’ll have to take some time to really dig into the app and see how it stacks up. More screenshots after the break.

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vfW5e6jVsMs]

As we first reported following a leaked promo video, Google is today rolling out a pretty big update to Gmail that will provide some major enhancements to the interface.

There isn’t much more included in the update than previously revealed, but the changes, including streamlined conversations, elastic density, new HD themes, improved search, and “smarter navigation”, were definitely worth the wait.

The “better search” comes from a new drop down panel that allows you to select filters and advanced search options, while smart navigation is part of the overall UI redesign allowing you to always see your labels and chat, as well as customize the items in the left pane. You can now use arrow keys to navigate the interface, too.

Elastic density is a nice addition, allowing you to select one of the three predefined settings that will control the spacing between items in your inbox. The settings include “Comfortable”, “Cozy”, and “Compact”. Streamlined conversations are perhaps the biggest and best change, providing a new dynamic conversation view seen below:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google will be holding a new event known as “Mobilizing Mobile” on November 14th (via Alabama Live) where they will open a storefront in downtown Mobile, Alabama and offer free developer services to build mobile (Android) optimized websites for businesses. Google will also cover hosting costs of the mobile websites for one year.

President of Red Square Agency Rich Sullivan (who organized the event on behalf of Goog) says the event kicks off Google’s larger “mobile-website initiative” known as “GoMo”. As noticed by Fusible, Google today made the Howtogomo.com website live, which provides the following description of the mobile-website development resource on its About page:

GoMo is a Google-led initiative dedicated to helping businesses “Go Mobile” by providing them with the tools and resources they need to make their websites more mobile-friendly. On the GoMo website, businesses can see how their sites look on a mobile device using the GoMoMeter tool and get personalized recommendations for creating a more mobile-friendly experience. The site also has information on current mobile trends and mobile site best practices, as well as a list of developers ready to help companies build their mobile sites.

The site is essentially a huge resource for businesses, organizations, and developers interested in learning more about optimizing their content for mobile. This includes Mobile Best Practices, Case Studies, and the Get Started tool for finding an agency you can hire to build your mobile site. There is also a GoMo Meter tool that lets you enter the URL of your site and test its mobile browser compatibility (a full PDF report can also be downloaded). Agencies interested in signing up to be listed as a vendor can do so here.

Expand
Expanding
Close

MG Siegler reports that Google is “on the verge” of releasing a native Gmail client for the iPhone through the App Store. Gmail users have long complained over the lack of push Gmail for the iPhone, which this native application is said to bring. Siegler says the application will likely bring also bring Priority Inbox and one click starring. Of course, nobody says that this application has been approved or will be approved by Apple, so until then, don’t get too excited.

Cross posted on 9to5Mac.com

Expand
Expanding
Close

Much like they recently did in the streets of San Francisco, the Google Wallet team is partnering with Sprint and Samsung to bring demos of the Mastercard-powered NFC payment tech to retail stores in Chicago, Washington DC, New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles between now and January. In addition to trying out Google Wallet on a Samsung Nexus S demo unit during one of the half-day events, you’ll get $10 towards your purchase in the process. The events have already kicked off this month in New York and Chicago.

The roadshow will be hitting various retail locations including Jamba Juice, Walgreens, Foot Locker, Duane Reade, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Chelsea Market, and Fat Witch Bakery, among others. You can check out the times (which are all in EST) at the full event calendar here. Dates for the five cities are listed below:

Expand
Expanding
Close

We knew it was coming when Google’s Vic Gundotra told us it was just “a number of days”, and less than a week later Google has officially announced Google+ for Google Apps users. Apps users will have access to the same features as regular Google+ users and those who have new services set to automatically enable will notice the service become available for all members over the next few days. Apps users will also have the ability to share with everyone in an organization when making a post, opposed to only being able to select to share publicly or with a circle.

You will be able to enable Google+ for your organization or for select members by clicking the “Organization & users” tab, followed by the “Services” sub-tab, and selecting “ON” next to Google+ under “Other Google Services”.

There will also be a migration tool in the next few weeks for those who started using Google+ with a regular Google account and want to switch to their Google apps account. This will allow you to import your ciricles and also allow you to remain in other people’s circles while switching to the new profile. Note: Google+ for Apps users requires Picasa Web Albums and Google Talk for chat services to be enabled.

Here’s the Admin video on how to enable your org:

As part of the announcement, Google also gave a list of Google Apps for Education universities that are rolling out Google+ to their campuses:

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BPeWJTuD7G8]

Canadians are getting a little bit of love today from Google as Google Map Maker for Canada officially goes live. The project has been available in the U.S. since earlier this year and elsewhere since 2008, but now Canadians too can add local geographic data to Google Maps.

By heading over to www.google.ca/mapmaker, you can now start adding points of interest (adding/naming buildings, restaurants, schools, etc.), rivers, trails and roads, or update existing landmarks to make them more accurate. Of course all of your edits will first have to be approved for accuracy by Google engineers before being displayed on Google Maps.

The tool isn’t too difficult to use. You can easily select a route for a bike path or newly constructed road, drop a familiar red pin to add a point of interest, or draw a shape to add a building or landmark. You’ll already notice a lot of edits and additions to the Canada map, as Canadian Google employees have been testing out the tool in preparation of today’s launch.

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oX4dp1F171w#!]

We know Google is always trying to expand their street view content in Google Maps, but the addition of the Albula-Bernina railway line in the Swizz Alps might be the most scenic virtual route yet. As you can see in the video above, Google took its pedicab trike camera, attached it to a section in front of the train, and in the process captured video for over 122 km for the first  railway to be included in Street View. This follows the inclusion of footage shot from a boat in the Amazon and snowmobile captured video in the mountains of Whistler.

Other than being a beautiful and varied landscape, the railway is also the “highest altitude transalpine railway in Europe” and “one of the steepest adhesion railways in the world”, according to a website dedicated to tracking its progress. The specific section Google went to film runs from Thusis, Switzerland to St. Mortiz, and finally heads to Tirano, Italy. Look out for the railway Street View experience to hit Google Maps shortly.

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF2I8c3fNQs]

According to a report from Google Operating System, a video from Google’s YouTube channel (which has recently been made private) leaked a new Gmail interface that will more than likely be introduced publicly in the near future.

As you can see from the video above, they’ve redesigned the overall look of the UI (based on the new Preview theme) by using large icons opposed to text labels, a brand new conversation view with profile pictures, and a new flexible layout that maintains maximum usability when resizing browser windows.

A new customizable search bar adds the ability to easily select filters and advanced options for searching and even create new filters right from within the new search dialog. Display density settings including “Comfortable”, “Compact”, and “Cozy” will allow you to adjust the amount of content displayed in your inbox, and Label and Chat areas can now be resized. Many of the themes have been updated with new HD imagery as well.

Expand
Expanding
Close

The unofficial Google Operating System blog reports Google is currently in the process of testing near half page ads on the Gmail sign in page. The charm of the normally inconspicuous ads we’re used to on Gmail is they are usually relevant to the content within our inbox. These new ads are far from unobtrusive and judging by the Vistaprint ad shown in the image, they dont appear to be relevant.

The report also notes Google has since removed mention of not displaying untargeted ads from their “Top 10 reasons to use Gmail” page. The page used to include the following:

“With Gmail, you’ll never see pop-ups or untargeted banner ads. Instead we display text ads and related links you might find useful and interesting.”

As of right now, those seeing the ad are reporting it only appears when logging out of Gmail. Google may have plans to make the experimental Gmail ad permanent, as a support document notes “occasionally we may show a banner ad on the Gmail logout page” similar to the ads appearing on the YouTube homepage. Let us know in the comments if you’re seeing the ad and how you feel about it.

Expand
Expanding
Close

After just announcing their third quarter 2011 financial results, Google execs are now breaking down the stats in a live conference call. Starting off with some statistics on their most important new products, Google gives us some interesting numbers on the growth of Google+ and Android during Q3.

Describing the growth in Q3 in one word, “gangbusters”, Larry Page noted the service had grown to 40 million users, with 3.4 billion photos uploaded by users, and over a 100 features introduced in just 90 days. He also talked about plans for Google+ to “transform” the Google experience by baking sharing and identity into all their products saying, “last quarter we shipped the +, now were going to ship the Google part”. He continued:

“The new visual redesign–beautiful, consistent UIs for search, news, maps, translate and lots of other features. It’s only the beginning of that process!”

We also learned some numbers on Android with 190 million device activations, 2.5x user growth in the past 12 months, and $2.5 billion in mobile ad revenue . They also touched on the “Soon to be released” Ice Cream Sandwich release saying, “You wont believe what we’ve managed to get done”.

The company also announced their Google Offers service is now rolled out to eleven cities.

Expand
Expanding
Close

While the Google Wallet app is still only available to Nexus S 4G users on Sprint, version 1.0-R33v4 brings Offers directly within Wallet, updated UI for the transaction detail screen, and a number of other small enhancements as well as the typical bug fixes.

Google Wallet, which allows users to make payments via Google Prepaid Cards or Citi MasterCard using their Android device at any MasterCard PayPass terminal, will hopefully soon start to become accessible on more devices as new supported hardware gets released this year. You can check out a full list of what’s new in the update after the break.

Expand
Expanding
Close