There’s a useful roundup of Google Apps over on the Official Google website.

“As you might have heard recently, in addition to search and advertising, we’re focused on a third key area of innovation: powerful applications that run on the web and that let you collaborate and communicate in new ways.”

They now offer email, calendaring, document creation and collaboration services for individuals, and with Google Apps, businesses, schools and other organizations can “customize these tools and use them as their own internal systems”.

It seems more than 100,000 organizations of all sizes have started using Google Apps to deliver “powerful services to employees, students and members”. The great advantage is that there’s no hardware or software to install or maintain.

The site gives info clicks for four institutional categories : small business, enterprise, school, and Family and Group.

Read the rest of the piece.

Google’s purchase of internet advertising giant DoubleClick means it also owns one of the biggest SEO companies in the world.

Performics is a search marketing company and may present a conflict of interest to Google, since the goal of Performics is to rank their clients highly on the search engines.

Search Engine Journal lists Performics clients as :

America Online, Blair Corp., Bose, Cingular, CompUSA, Eddie Bauer, Fairmont Hotels, HP Shopping, J. Jill, Jos. A. Banks, Kohl’s, L.L. Bean, Motorola, OfficeMax, PC Connection, RedEnvelope, My Sony, Quickbook, Staples, Verizon Wireless, and Wyndham Hotels.

Such services offered by Performics include paid search marketing, ‘natural’ search engine optimization and data feed marketing.

Google’s FAQ on the buy includes the following Q&A :

Q. What will Google do with Performics?
A. Performics is part of DoubleClick, and we are acquiring it as part of the transaction. We have no plans to dispose of it at this time.

With Google clamping down on text link ads and other optimization activities, isn’t this all a tad tacky?

Or is there something we’re not being told — yet?

A new advertising system has been announced by Google. Instead of its now traditional cost-per-click arrangement centered around Adsense and AdWords, the company has introduced “Pay-Per-Action — Pay only for actions that you define”.

“… you’ll create an ad and define the action that you want a user to perform when they visit your site, such as signing up for your newsletter or purchasing a product. Then you’ll set the amount that you’re willing to pay when this action is completed.”

The point of the procedure is that you’ll only pay when a user clicks on your ad, visits your site, and completes your desired action.

Pay-per-action ads complement your current campaigns by providing a new pricing model that extends your reach and allows you to pay only when a defined action is completed on your site. This beta feature is currently available to AdWords advertisers in the United States on a limited basis as part of our beta test. Read below to find out more.

Michael Arrington at TechCrunch thinks the new ad system will crunch the affiliate middlemen. “Affiliate marketing networks like Commission Junction and LinkShare are screwed. These networks also operate on a cost-per-action basis, mostly with online retailers. Even though some of them have scale, they will not have the ability to compete with Google on sheer size of network.”

That remains to be seen, but no-one can fault Google’s determination to remain in the forefront of internet advertising.

Simeon Simeonov has posted what he calls some inside information about the new Google Phone, including a picture of it which was allegedly leaked to Engadget and described as an Apple iPhone killer :

The phone is said to have the following features :

* Blackberry-like, slick device
* C++ core w/ OS bootstrap (some version of Linux?)
* Optimized Java running on the C++ core
* Vector-based presentation courtesy of Skia’s technology
* Many services, including VoIP.

Simeon writes : “Apparently, Google is planning to build distribution relationships with multiple carriers by allowing them to minimize subscription and marketing costs. In other words, Google will market the phone online and carriers will fulfill.”

There seems to be a lot of chaff flying around this product from inside sources. Could Google be using a disinformation campaign to disguise its true intentions?

One thing’s for sure, any physical product from Google is bound to make a huge dent in the market, especially if it can undercut the iPhone on price.