In a move designed to expand its footprint in cloud computing—and crank up the intensity of its competition with Microsoft—Internet giant Google has announced it is launching a reseller program for its Google Apps suite of cloud-based business productivity software. Under the program, Google is throwing open its doors to 50 companies, who—if accepted into the program—will be able to buy the Google Apps Premier Edition for 20 percent off Google’s the $50/year price and offer it to their own customers at a profit. Google will provide the support, training, customer integration, and marketing tools; the resellers just have to get clients on board and manage their own relationships with their customers.
