No, not another co-branded iPod (now there's an idea), but instead Google is pushing its search appliance for small and medium-sized businesses, Google Mini. This combined hardware and software product has been reduced to £1,995 (I note that in the US it's a cheaper $2,995) and can index up to 100k documents.

No doubt Google thinks that there are still enough businesses out there with less than 100k documents (higher capacity and priced options are available, if not) - although I presume they are not planning on searching employees' iTunes collections... Either way Google Mini is another indicator of the search giant's moves into the lucrative SME marketplace, as seen with Adwords and local business search.

In the age of information overload, the importance of search within corporate networks is paramount. And you can be just as sure that Microsoft and its competitors will not allow Google to have it all its own way.