Microsoft has announced that Microsoft Office Live has reached a pivotal milestone as the service now has 1 million subscribers. The service was initially launched two years back to help small businesses, typically the ones with fewer than 10 employees to create and maintain a web presence. This healthy uptake has ensured that Microsoft will eventually become a key player in this market segment amid competition from Google and a few others.
Small Businesses are typically resource constraint and usually draw the line on IT expenditures. Windows Live offering is not only free, but also makes it easier for non-IT people to quickly create websites, set up email accounts and perform other auxiliary tasks needed to do business online. These benefits coupled with a timely entry into market allowed Office Live to more than double its subscriber base in the past year alone.
According to Baris Cetinok, , Director of Product Management, Marketing and Planning for Microsoft Office Live Small Business:
From the outset we knew we wanted to tailor Office Live Small Business to the smallest of small businesses because they have unique needs that were not being addressed by any other service at the time. We focused on three key things: make the service easy to use, make it affordable and make it all work together.
Microsoft has bundled Website Builder, Custom Domain and Business Email accounts, Contact Manager, Document Manager, Workspaces, and a Product Manager in its Office Live offering. However, whenever I hear the term Office Live, the first reaction that I have is that its an online version of MS Office. Perhaps Microsoft should have named the service differently to avoid this confusion, or perhaps it should also make Office available online.
Microsoft is not the only player in the market. Google has already put in its leg inside the door with its Google apps for custom domains. Google has bundled Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Sites, Google Talk and built in security to enable small businesses to create websites, communicate with fellow employees and/or customers both in real time and non real time mode via Google Talk or Gmail. In addition to this employees could collaboratively create documents and spreadsheets and share it both internally and externally with third parties.
However, Google still needs to integrate some key services like Google Checkout so that small merchants could easily pay each other. We at Startup Meme really wish that Google Reader be integrated with Google apps, so that we are saved from signing into Google Reader from our private Google accounts.
From Google and Microsoft’s current moves, it is becoming clear that both the Giants are positioning themselves for the ultimate battle of Online app hosting in the SMB space.
