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Last week, Google unveiled its Premier Apps service amid much blogosphere banter and speculation, namely to the tune that the search company is now, in effect, throwing its hat in the ring as a direct competitor to Microsoft in the enterprise sector when it comes to office applications.

Two key features of Premier Apps immediately stood out most analysts when Google released the initial feature list:

Cost - Google is charging $50 per user each year for its Premier Apps service, an aspect of the service that gives the company significant leverage against Microsoft Office, which carries a higher price tag.

Support – Since Premier Apps is completely web-based, the burden of customer support is placed squarely on the shoulders of Google, rather than the entire IT department. The online functionality of the service also lends itself nicely to updates, which will more than likely be implemented on the backend with little to no effort required from end users.

In an effort to spread the news regarding the benefits of Premier Apps, Google is launching a series of seminars to present the software suite to IT professionals and local business decision makers across the United States.

More from Google on its seminar series:

Google, developer of the award-winning web search engine, will highlight next-generation Google Enterprise technologies during a Google@Work breakfast seminar for local business decision makers and IT Managers. During the free seminar, attendees will learn how Google Enterprise technologies can relieve overburdened IT budgets, enhance productivity and accelerate communication and collaboration across their organization.

The Mountain View based company as announced three initial stops on its campaign trail to promote Premier Apps: Cleveland, OH; Milwaukee, WI; and Richmond; VA. Google is limiting the engagements to only 50 participants per locations, and is currently taking reservations online.

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