Australian Computerworld has an interesting article about Google’s plans for the business versions of Google Earth, Pro and Enterprise.

These two versions are being placed under the “guidance” of Google’s enterprise unit, and the article quotes one Google exec at length:

“There’s definitely a lot of potential for integration between the Google Earth products and the Search Appliance and the Google Mini. We’re starting to look at what might make sense,” said Dave Girouard, general manager of the Google Enterprise unit.

Considering that the Search appliance starts at $30,000 and mini at $3,000, ads are unlikely in future business versions of Google. There is still no sign that that these versions will be aimed at GIS pros, though — rather they seem to position Google Earth as a snazzier more versatile way of viewing geosearch results.