Google Apps for Education hits 10 million user milestone

Paul Darbyshire  May 28, 2010

Google is announcing at EDUCAUSE today that, four years after introducing Google Apps for Education, it now has 10 million active users at universities and K-12 schools worldwide. Active users are people within Google Apps domains who have signed on within the last 7 - 30 days and include students, staff, alumni, and even parents (in some K-12 settings), depending upon how the schools have rolled out the services.


The evolution of the Google Apps suite of cloud-based communication and collaboration tools really has been nothing short of extraordinary. Apps relatively easy to deploy ready to go live within 2 weeks.

As part of this sustained momentum, we’ve seen the number of active Google Apps for Education users double since last fall, with more than 2 million new users coming on board since May alone; not to mention the emerging growth we’re now seeing in the K-12 space.

With all of this obvious demand and utilization, why is Google giving Edu Apps away for free?

1. The more Google Apps users the company has, the more it can refine and develop features, get feedback, and otherwise improve the product that it sells in other markets.
2. Google Apps for Education doesn’t deliver ads to students (or can be limited to education-related ads). However, students accustomed to Apps will be more likely to use Gmail and consumer Apps in their personal lives, broadening Google’s advertising base.
3. Similarly, students who have come to depend upon the collaboration and easy content creation tools in Apps during college will look Premier Apps when they enter the workforce. What better way to build a generation of highly-educated users who demand cloud-based tools like those in Apps from their employers (or who incorporate them in their own businesses)?
4. The more people (whether students, staff, or parents) associate Google with the cloud and productivity, the stronger Google’s brand.

It’s a win for everybody.