WebProNews

Never mind the latest developments relating to real-time search and the mobile market.  Google intends to make its next serious buck off the software and services that businesses require, with the company's CEO talking up the outlook at a conference yesterday. 

As reported by Stephen Shankland, Eric Schmidt said Wednesday afternoon at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo Orlando 2009, "Enterprise is a huge priority for the management team and me personally.  It's the next big billion-dollar opportunity after our display (ad) business."

That's a very interesting assertion coming from someone in his position.  First of all, there's the huge level of growth Schmidt's statement implies.  Google doesn't charge its enterprise customers much, and it doesn't really have all that many customers now, so the CEO must be confident that uptake will increase.

Then, there's the fact that his focus on enterprise gives investors something to hang on to: an expectation that Google will continue to more or less print money even if/when its share of the online advertising market tops out.

So look for lots and lots of activity tied to Postini, the Google Search Appliance, and Google Apps.  One billion dollars won't appear by itself.