Google Lets Business Customers Register DomainsGoogle Lets Business Customers Register Domains

Google Apps for Your Domain no longer requires you to be master of your domain. Google on Friday plans to extend its private-label calendar, e-mail, and IM service to organizations without a registered domain name.

"Previously, if you wanted to use Google Apps for Your Domain, you had to have a domain," says Raju Gulabani, director of product management for the service. "With this addition, we're expanding to those customers that don't have a domain."

Roughly half of small businesses, those with 100 employees or less, don't have domains, according to Gulabani.

That's why Google will now help customers search for and register domains as part of the Google Apps for Your Domain sign-up process.

Google isn't actually becoming a domain registrar. Instead, it has partnered with GoDaddy and eNom, which will become the registrars of record. What Google is providing is an easy-to-use registration interface. The cost to register a domain through Google is $10 per year. Google Apps for Your Domain users have a choice of .com, .net, .org, .biz, and .info Top-Level Domains.

"You also get private registration, so your information isn't out there for people to send unsolicited e-mails," says Gulabani.

Google Apps for Your Domain includes private-label versions of Google's Gmail, Calendar, Talk, Page Creator, and Personalized Start Page applications for business users. The company plans to add more applications in the future.