Google Reacts to Office 365

Under pressure from Microsoft’s Office 365, Google has launched a premium edition of Apps with unlimited cloud storage and extra IT controls, and has also improved the Docs office productivity suite.

Although this new edition is essentially Apps for Business with an extra set of features, Google has branded it differently, shifting the spotlight from “apps” to storage by calling it Drive for Work.

It’s an acknowledgement by Google of the red hot popularity of cloud storage and file sharing services for personal and work documents, like its own Drive, which has about 190 million active home and business users, Microsoft’s OneDrive and OneDrive for Business, and similar services from Box, Dropbox and others.

“We’re in a market that understands the value of cloud storage and its massive adoption, so it’s an important thing to call out right now,” said Scott Johnston, Google Drive’s director of product management.

Drive for Work and the enhancements to Docs are also a needed competitive reaction from Google to the momentum of Office 365, which, despite arriving four years after Apps, has helped Microsoft quickly recover lost ground in the market for cloud email and collaboration suites.

Office 365 and Google Apps offer email, calendaring, storage, IM, Web-based office software and audio/video communications for businesses, schools, government agencies and nonprofit organizations.