A lot of my customers wanted and used GoogleApps for their emails, to bad it is no longer free. Here is the official post about it
http://googleenterprise.blogspot.no/2012/12/changes-to-google-apps-for-businesses.html - and on the signup page it is no longer any free option
http://www.google.com/intl/no/enterprise/apps/business/
However, it is still possible to get a free single user GoogleApps account if you first log into Google AppEngine, here is more information:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/google-appengine/pVZfdeky-ow/TO1SmipM2Y0J
Hello Everyone,
The Apps Standard account you have today will continue to work for free. If you create a new Apps account going through the App Engine Admin Console you'll still be able to create a Standard Apps account for free but you'll only be able to get 1 user per account rather than the 10 you get today.
Let me know if you have additional questions,
Greg D'Alesandre
Senior Product Manager, Google App Engine
This is how you do it: Log into
https://appengine.google.com/ with your private Gmail account. Create a new Application (just use dummy text in the fields), and click "Create a Application" button. Click on the link name for your new Application to go to the Dashboard. Then scroll down until you find the link "Application Settings" in the left column, click on it. Then scroll down until you find the button named "Add Domain..." and click on it. Then you will on the right side of the page see a text saying "If you do not have a Google Apps domain, App Engine users can sign up to a single-user Google Apps Standard account for free." And after that there is a link saying "Sign up for GoogleApps Standard". Click on the link, and you will be able to sign up for a free GoogleApps account, but it is limited to one user.
Edit: You need to log into AppEngine and click on the link, because GoogleApps checks the HTTP Referrer information, so if you just copy the link and give it to your friends, it will not work for them.
Edit2: Also, remember that if you already have a free GoogleApps account, it is very important that you never upgrade to the paid business version (unless you really want to), because it will not be possible to downgrade to the free version again.