Realizing the growing popularity of cloud computing across the business landscape, Google has launched Apps Marketplace, an online store that will offer a range of cloud-based apps by Google and other third-party developers.

In an official blog post, Google said that as businesses worldwide are getting more familiarized with the advantages of cloud computing, they want more. “We’re often asked when we’ll offer a wider variety of business applications – from accounting and project management to travel planning and human resources management. But we certainly can’t and won’t do it all, and there are hundreds of business applications for which we have no particular expertise,” said Google.

Cloud computing works wonders for busineeses by “eliminating the hassles associated with purchasing, installing and maintaining hardware and software themselves.” Now at Google Apps Marketplace, businesses will have access to a full suite of cloud-based applications which they can browse and add the desired apps to their inventory. “Once installed to a company’s domain, these third-party applications work like native Google applications,” wrote Chris Vander Mey, product manager for the Google Apps Marketplace, in the company’s official blog. All the applications available at Apps Marketplace can be integrated with Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar and other services available in the productivity suite.

Google Apps Marketplace serves as developers’ haven where they can sell their web apps to over 25 million untapped Google Apps users, around 2 million of which are businesses. All it takes to install these applications is just a few clicks and the apps only require a single sign-on facilitated by OpenID, rather than dealing with separate credentials for each.

Google launched the Apps Marketplace with 50 featured applications serving to businesses and education customers that constitute the vast majority of Google Apps users. So for now the store is teeming with apps for things like project management, customer retention and administration.