IBM Goes After Google Apps with Webmail Service

Google may not be an established name in the business services market but the inroads it's making have some of the more established players noticing. IBM, one of the biggest names in enterprise software, is launching a new product for its Lotus suite that will compete with Google Apps at least when it comes to price. The product, called LotusLive iNotes, is a bare-bones email service that will sell for $36 per user per year.

“Remote employees, retail workers and anyone who doesn't work behind a desk will appreciate the easy access to company e-mail. With web-based e-mail, all of your employees will have real-time e-mail access from a Web browser and Internet connection,” IMB describes the product. “LotusLive iNotes gives you the best of both worlds. It simplifies e-mail administration but still offers robust, flexible services. You'll have access to all the essential messaging features - previously only found in desktop software - via the Web browser.”

On the face of it iNotes doesn't really offer any advantages over Google Apps and only competes on price. The professional version of Apps costs $50 per user per year, a premium that rapidly adds up at large companies. However, iNotes just offers a web email client and nothing else. As an email client though, it is a fairly complete application and the service supports POP, authenticated SMTP and IMAP capabilities allowing it to be accessed through IBM's own Lotus Notes or Microsoft Outlook.

Google Apps on the other hand comes with a complete set of applications like a word processor, spreadsheet editor, an instant messenger, calendar and others, all completely web based. IMB though has one very big advantage over Google, its name. The company has been in the business for decades and has built a lot of trust from most companies. Google on the other hand is a newcomer and has just entered the business sector. What's more, problems like the Gmail outage last month, which left all users, including business ones, without access for a few hours, aren't doing it any favors.