Google is getting deeper into SaaS

We are already familiar with Google's "docs and spreadsheets" which are online office web-applications, similar to Microsoft's Word and Excel. Yesterday, Google's CEO has announced that they are also going to develop a similar software-service for presentations (something like MS's PowerPoint). I find this way of offering Software very convenient and useful. Especially because it is completely machine and platform independent. For example - in Google Docs, you can save your document as either HTML, DOC, PDF, RTF or OpenOffice format.

The SaaS (Software as a Service) model has many advantages - no need to buy anything, no need to install, fluid free updates, online storage space, etc... I wrote a PCON article about it a few months ago, and turns out that analysts foresee a great future for SaaS (which is the next generation of the ASP model - ASP is Application Service Provider, not Active Server Pages). Analyst IDC predicts that the SaaS market is going to have 21% growth over the upcoming 4 years and reach $10.7 Billion in 2009. The "conventional" software market is only expected to have 4% growth until 2008 (according to analyst Forrester). Analyst Gartner predicts that in 2010, 30% of all software will be distributed in the SaaS model. Gartner also predicts that only 33% of the software vendors will be able to make a successful transition to the SaaS model.

Microsoft is trying not to stay behind. Steve Balmer has declared that SaaS will be one of 3 major issues on witch Microsoft is going to concentrate this year. Oracle is also getting into SaaS - in the last quarter of 2006, Oracle's SaaS application has produce $86 Million in net profit.