Google Comes out of Beta
July 8, 2009
Google Apps that is — and Google Talk, Google Calendar, and Gmail.
In preparation for a brand battle between Google and Microsoft’s suite of Office products, Google has officially removed the “beta” reference from Google Apps, Google Calendar, Google Talk and Gmail. According to the Official Google Blog, “beta” has been dropped in an effort to specifically target companies who find the beta brand label too risky to take seriously. And if you want to compete against Microsoft, you’ve got to be serious (notice my sarcasm?). Matthew Glotzbach, director of product management for Google Enterprise wrote in his post on the Google blog, “We’ve come to appreciate that the beta tag just doesn’t fit for large enterprises that aren’t keen to run their business on software that sounds like it’s still in the trial phase.” Look out Microsoft. Google has taken off its glove and is ready for a fight!
Let’s face it, Google hangs onto the “beta” label for a long, long time. Gmail has been in beta for five years! “Beta” seems like more of a crutch (i.e., excuse if anything goes wrong) than anything else. In marketing and new product development, we call it a “pilot” program. But for five years? “Beta” seems like a stretch after half a decade of active use. Did anyone really even notice the “beta” label in the logo on Google Apps, Gmail, etc. anymore?
The question is whether or not companies will feel comfortable using online applications rather than offline applications for word processing, spreadsheets, calendars, email, etc. The idea of having many of a company’s critical and/or daily workflow applications hosted by a third-party can be a difficult barrier to cross. It’s a mind-shift that most people still have trouble making. Google will have a lot of work to do to make companies feel comfortable making this kind of switch. Google has the strength of its brand to back up its products. but that power has to be transferred to a new way of thinking and consumers need to feel secure in that new way of thinking before we’ll see a broad shift from offline to online apps. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but it will take a lot more than, “but hey, we’re Google,” to get it done.
Your thoughts? Who will win this battle of the brands?
Image: Flickr
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This post was written by Susan Gunelius.
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