[Infowarrior] - Google targets ISPs: is there a dark side?

[Richard Forno]

Google targets ISPs: is there a dark side?

http://apcmag.com/6138/the_dark_side_of_google_apps_for_isps

    * 20th May 2007
    * Angus Kidman
    * Internet

All your ISP email belong to Google: but will it be good for all
humankind?All your ISP email belong to Google: but will it be good for all
humankind?Pretty much every Internet service provider on the planet offers
email as part of their package, but that doesn't mean they do a particularly
good job of it.

OK, the majority don't suffer embarrassing outages like Australian ISP
BigPond's infamous email meltdown in October 2003 , but limited download
speeds, variable quality web mail interfaces, tiny online storage quotas and
the tie-in effect of choosing an email address linked to a specific provider
mean that using an ISP-provided email service often winds up looking like a
pretty poor choice.

That's especially the case with providers that only offer a limited number
of email accounts for each customer (such as the single inboxes offered by
BigPond or Unwired, for example, on their cheapest plans).

Search giant Google is hoping to change that attitude with the latest
expansion to its Google Apps software platform, designed specifically to
attract ISPs and other Internet businesses.

In a characteristically Google-esque move, Google announced the new program
in a posting on its blog. "This new version, which we're calling the Partner
Edition, makes it easy for large and small service providers to offer your
subscribers the latest versions of powerful tools, like Gmail, Google
Calendar, and Google Docs & Spreadsheets, without having to worry about
hosting, updating, or maintaining any of the services yourself," product
manager Hunter Middleton wrote.

The slick Gmail interface and multi-gigabyte inbox limit might seem might
good selling points for an ISP-branded Gmail service, but Google's
fundamental selling point is a single one: laziness. "You can quit spending
your resources and time on applications like webmail -- and leave the work
to our busy bees at the Googleplex," Middleton wrote.

Google may well be on the money here -- APC's past discussions with ISPs has
indicated that running the email system for customers and dealing with spam
while offering an acceptable amount of reliability is a major cost and
headache for companies that, frankly, would prefer to focus on the 'tubes'.

However, despite that, there's a few elements of Google's new offering that
might give ISPs (and their customers) pause for thought.

Unlike the individually accessible Google Apps services, which are primarily
supported through advertising, ISPs will have to pay for the service. Google
is being rather coy about the pricing, merely inviting ISPs and other
interested parties to apply and learn more, but does suggest in its product
information page that the service will be offered "affordably".

Secondly, while Google talks up the potential for ISPs to customise the
service, that might not always be good for end users.

For instance, a key selling point of Partner edition is the ability to
"offer subscribers the latest Google applications on your domain". If a
Gmail account is tied to ispname.com.au, it suddenly becomes a lot less
appealing, because, like any other ISP email address, changing ISP means
having to tell everyone you know about your new email address.

Google hasn't indicated yet whether customers of this ISP-sponsored Gmail
will be able to easily port their mail over to a new Gmail address, either.

Similarly, the promised storage volume is "up to 10GB". If Google offers
ISPs the choice of how much storage space to offer customers (and if less
space costs an ISP less dollars) then the chances are that ISPs will offer a
minimal amount.

For Australian ISPs, there's also the question of whether Google will
consider them worth their time, or offer sufficient differentiations.
Google's application form categorises ISPs into five size groups, with the
smallest covering up to 200,000 customers -- a number that would cover all
but Australia's very largest ISPs. Size, in this case, might not be
everything.