In what looks like an effort to compete with Google Apps, the marketing geniuses at Microsoft are slashing prices for their online offerings. The question: Are they worth the price now?

Some won’t think so, but now that MS has dropped the price 50% per user of Exchange Online services and cut by 33% the price of its Business Productivity Online Services suite of online productivity applications, we’ll have the chance to find out.

The drop for Exchange Online brings Microsoft a lot closer to what  Google wants for Google Apps Premier Edition (GAPE) suite. Microsoft’s also giving customers five times the amount of room for their mail by boosting mailbox sizes from 5GB to 25GB.

While they’ve gotten closer to Google’s price post, Microsoft’s still a costlier option. Microsoft’s per year cost per user for Exchange Online is now $60; Google charges $50 per user per year for GAPE, which also gets you other productivity applications.

Microsoft also slashed the list price on its whole Business Productivity Online Services (BPOS) suite, from $15 per user per month to $10. Minimum purchase: 5 seats.

Tags: applications, e-mail, Google, Microsoft, office productivity suites, online