Google to Open App Store for Education Software

Google has had a big focus on educational institutions with its Apps suite and it is now extending that with the future introduction of an education-focused app market. The idea is to enable third-party software makers to sell their applications and services via a common marketplace. Google will then keep a portion of the sale price.

According to a report by Bloomberg, Google is now talking with educational software makers to get them to join an upcoming marketplace the company is working on.

Similar to the existing Google Apps Marketplace, the new market will offer third-party software accessible and manageable through Google Apps. Most third-party apps in the Marketplace also offer some integration with the default Google suite.

The educational software market is worth several billion dollars a year in the US alone. Tapping into that could provide a generous revenue stream for Google which offers its Apps suite for free to educational institutions.

While Google regularly offers its products for free, making it up with advertising revenue, Google Apps for Education doesn't include any ads either.

Rather, Google hopes that by introducing its apps to students early on, they will continue to use its products later and maybe get the companies they will be working for to switch to Google as well.

With the new educational app marketplace, Google could start generating actual, though still indirect, revenue from its Apps suite as Google plans to introduce a 20/80 revenue split for the Apps Marketplace in the next few months.

Google already has about 10 million users of its Education edition which may prove luring to third-party software makers. Some educational software is already available in the marketplace.

For example, Aviary Education, which was introduced last summer, is designed specifically for schools. While the applications are the same as with the regular edition, the works are restricted to the classroom and are not shared with the world by default.