Google software to rival IBM, Adobe solutions

Google Inc, owner of the world's most popular search engine, will sell an analytics service for online advertisers, in a direct challenge to offerings from International Business Machines Corp and Adobe Systems Inc. Google Analytics Premium costs $150,000 a year and gives increased processing power, phone support and the ability to measure the impact of a new campaign within four hours of posting it online, said Amy Chang, director of product management, in an interview. Mountain View, California-based Google is adding new services catering to large businesses to lessen its reliance on online advertising. While a free version of Google's analytics tool has hundreds of thousands of users, added features in the paid version may lure corporate clients who currently rely on services from IBM and Adobe, Chang said. "Everyone is struggling to get better ad spend," Chang said. "Google Analytics allows everyone across the board on a marketing team to be a data-driven marketer." IBM, based in Armonk, New York, gained an advertising- analysis service with its purchase of Coremetrics Inc last year. San Jose, California-based Adobe added a similar business through its 2009 purchase of Omniture Inc for $1.55 billion. Google said it will have dedicated salespeople and support teams for its paid data service. The four-hour turnaround for analysis compares with 24 hours for the free version. "It changes the decision making from days into minutes and that matters to a lot of marketers and a lot of clients," Chang said. Companies that have signed up for the paid service include Travelocity.com Inc, Gucci Group NV, TransUnion Corp and Papa John's International Inc, Google said.