One (Small) Hidden Cost Of Chromebooks For Business: Google Apps Not Included
And that makes sense. Getting Chromebooks into the business market solve two problems for Google: Microsoft and a new revenue stream. If Google’s strategy works here, it could become a massive business for them. And it’s one that directly threatens Microsoft more than ever. All of that sounds great, but there is one curiosity in the business strategy: they’re not including Google Apps.
That’s right, even though Google has created a $28-a-month program to get Chromebooks into businesses, that cost does not include Google Apps for Business. If you want Google’s app suite, you’ll have to pay separately.
Granted, it’s not a huge fee. Google charges $50 a year for businesses apps. The means it’s only an additional $4 or so dollars a month if you want to add it on. But that almost makes it weirder that Google isn’t including apps with the program.
Maybe it’s a concern that Google would face scrutiny for bundling their own apps — something Microsoft knows something about. Who knows. It’s just a bit odd. If you want to get the full Google business experience with Chrome OS, it’s actually going to cost you more like $32 a month, instead of $28.