Clay Bavor, Director, Google Apps has sent an email to all the users of Google apps which says that they are no longer accepting the free version of Google apps. The email received is as appended below:
Here's some important news about Google Apps—but don't worry, there's no need for you to take any action. We just want you to know that we're making a change to the packages we offer.
Starting today, we're no longer accepting new sign-ups for the free version of Google Apps (the version you're currently using). Because you're already a customer, this change has no impact on your service, and you can continue to use Google Apps for free.
Should you ever want to upgrade to Google Apps for Business, you'll enjoy benefits such as 24/7 customer support, a 25 GB inbox, business controls, our 99.9% uptime guarantee, unlimited users and more for just $5 per user, per month.
Thus now you have an option to use the paid version of Google Apps for Business to get the maximum benefit from their services.