Google launches Google Spreadsheets
Google has announced a beta of a web-based spreadsheet.
The new application, to be launched under the Google Labs platform, will be released Tuesday to a select group of users who sign up here. The spreadsheet is an outgrowth of an Excel conversion tool which Google acquired last year in its acquisition of 2Web Technologies.
This follows on the heels of Google's acquisition of web-based word processor Writely and the release of Google Calendar. All Google has to do next is acquire S5 or Thumbstacks, as a hosted competitor to PowerPoint, and they'll have an ASP competitor to Microsoft Office.
According to Google Product Manager Jonathan Rochelle, the product is being positioned as a workgroup application, enabling users to more easily share data in a collaborative environment. Rochelle indicated that they were also exploring the interest level in using Google Spreadsheets as a front-end for Googlebase.
While this product clearly won't be a threat to Excel for true number-crunchers or enterprise installations, there's definitely room for a new entrant in the spreadsheet market. Spreadsheets are used for many purposes beyond financials - everything from the office phone list to simple project task lists. Those types of tasks, really simple database projects, would be a natural fit for a collaborative spreadsheet application.
UPDATE: Dan Farber at ZDNet does a better job than I did at describing the different tasks that Google Spreadsheets is trying to solve, as compared to Excel, and how StarOffice and other web-based spreadsheet tools may feel the heat first.
According to Christina Quarles, analyst at Thomas Weisel Partners, Google Spreadsheets will help Google expand in markets outside the U.S., where the concept of a bundled copy of MS Office is not as entrenched as it is in the U.S.
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