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Google made a mistake initially by 1) Giving too much away for free and 2) Charging too low. It is probably trying to correct these mistakes.

1) On giving too much away…

Remember, Google Apps started with 200 free users, later reduced it to 100, then to 50, then to 10 and now to zero.

http://techcrunch.com/2009/01/23/google-puts-the-squeeze-on-...

At 200 free users, there was no room for a new entrant in the market. I am glad that didn't last long.

2) On Charging too low...

Back when they launched it, $50/user/year was extremely aggressive pricing. Vendors were charging $50/month. May be Google is realizing they were charging too low. I now see an additional plan with $10/user/month option (which didn't exist earlier).

Disclaimer: I work for Zoho, competition to Google Apps.



> Remember, Google Apps started with 200 free users

And when Google Apps first started, you could request to increase the number of free users. I have an old account with a quota of 500 free users.


I was going to suggest Zoho as an alternative - I have my personal email set up with you guys :) , and had no problems whatsoever.

However, I'm still used to Gmail's web interface, so I redirect my mail there.




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