Until recently, a low-cost alternative to Microsoft Exchange Online has been Google Apps. Google charges $50/year per user for its Google Apps access, which has stood in sharp contrast to Microsoft’s price of $120/year per user. Businesses looking to save money have begun the exodus to Google Apps, which offers many of the networked calendar, e-mail and other such features that are used often in the office.
Now, in a clear move against Google, Microsoft has slashed its price in half to $60/year per user.
Will this mean that the exodus of users from Microsoft Exchange Online to Google Apps will stop? Only time will tell. However, in this competition between two behemoths of online services, there will certainly be one clear winner: the consumer, who will enjoy even more services, lower and lower prices, and extended coverage thanks to this healthy competition for the global market share.
