Google Apps attracts 3m businesses, takes Docs mobile

Google has signed up the three-millionth business to its enterprise Apps package, and has said it will soon be bringing mobile Google Docs editing to the Android and iPad platforms.

The announcements came during the company's annual cloud-computing event in Paris on Monday. Google said in a statement that 30 million people within businesses, schools and other organisations now use Google Apps, a suite of messaging and collaboration tools that provides a cloud-based rival to the likes of Microsoft Office.

"Only cloud computing is able to deliver the whole package of productivity-enhancing collaboration, superior reliability and virtually unlimited scale at a price that's affordable for any-size organisation," wrote Dave Girouard, president of Google Enterprise, in the statement.

Meanwhile, Google announced that it will be bringing the full Google Docs experience — including document editing — to mobile devices, starting with Android and Apple's iPad, in the near future. Once launched, this feature will allow multiple users to edit a document simultaneously while on the move.

On Monday, Google also launched a two-step authentication process designed to make data stored in its business apps software more secure. The new process requires the account holder to log in as normal using a password, and then verifies the password by sending a confirmation code to the user's phone.