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According to TechCrunch, 1 in 5 searches is location related. Here's one way Google is responding:
Useful tool for businesses? Absolutely. But as was mentioned in the TechCrunch article, it lacks any kind of social integration. That being said, it's pretty amazing at what lengths Google is going to in order to nail local search: custom QR codes, real-time updates, coupons, etc.
Local is huge. Especially if you're local everywhere.
We're back. Episode 003 is here. It's short, sweet and to the point. You'll love it.
Here are links to the stories and products mentioned in the show.
Google has launched Buzz, a service wrapped into Gmail which allows for quick sharing of pictures, videos, status messages, etc. with your Google Friends. You can also autopost to Twitter, Picasa, Flickr and more. It includes privacy settings so you can share with the world or just your friends.
Flash your optics upon the official video:UPDATE
It looks like Google Buzz has quite the mobile version as well. This demo makes it seem like a cross between Foursquare, Twitter, Yelp and Google Maps. Actually, it looks like it could be pretty impressive. Check the video below:
To get Buzzed (ha!) just keep hitting refresh in Gmail for the next few days - it'll be gradually rolled out to users this week.
The Google Phone is here: the Nexus One. It's faster than the fastest iPhone with a better display, new Android software, a 5 mpx camera, etc. etc. etc.. It's an impressive and very sexy piece of hardware.
Questionable strategy
Google wants to get its Android operating system onto as many phones in as many people's hands as possible which is why they're giving it away free to phone manufacturers (whereas Windows, for example, charges phone manufacturers to put Windows Mobile on their handsets, similarly to how they charge Dell to put Windows 7 on their computers). This makes sense because:
The more people who have an internet-capable phone, the more time they spend on the internet.
The more time people spend on the internet, the more time they spend searching on Google.
The more time people spend searching on Google, the more ads are clicked on and the more money Google makes.
So why are they charging so much for the phone? It's reported that it costs Google $174 in hard costs to make the Nexus One. Of course, there are other costs involved but the full retail price for one is still $529. Why?
Shake the industry
If Google really wanted to be disrupt the market it would sell the phone without a contract at $199.
What iPhone?
They still break even on the handset - the real money comes from ads on the sides of mobile search results. Google brings a lot of people into its ecosystem and does what it does best: brings the price of something down so low it's basically free (at $199 it could be free after carrier subsidization) and forces the industry to respond.
Despite what the current price of the Nexus One would suggest, Google isn't in the hardware business. Google had a net income of nearly $5 billion last year. They don't need to charge $529 for a phone. So why do they?
Preserving distribution
Ask most people on the street if they've heard of the Nexus One and most people will say no. And a fraction of those people will know they can get it directly from Google. At this point, Google needs Samsung, LG, Motorola and others to be putting its operating system on their phones - its reach is too small with mainstream consumers (as far as tangible products go) to do it alone. And if it undercuts those partners by giving away a high-end piece of hardware they'll stop using Android and perhaps even threaten wireless carriers who allow the Google Phone to operate on their networks.
Conclusion
Rupert Murdoch, billionaire and owner of such sundry properties as the Wall Street Journal and MySpace, is sick and tired of Google "stealing" his content. After all, Google makes their money indexing and making his content available to the world, so why shouldn't he get a slice of that pie?
Or that's his antiquated point of view. But he's threatening to put his money where his mouth is: block Google from displaying content from his News Corp. sites like the Wall Street Journal in its search results. Take that Google!Of course, that would instantly reduce traffic to WSJ.com by at least 25%.Nose. Face. Cut. Spite.Murdoch is clearly unaware of how economies are working nowadays (ironic since the Wall Street Journal is, you know, a financial publication) - not all that surprising considering word on the street is Murdoch only began using the Internet a year ago. To quote Jeff Jarvis of BuzzMachine:"This silliness is emblematic of the end of the Gutenberg age, the industrial age, the age of control, the age of centralization, Murdoch’s age. The problem here is that Google-virgin Murdoch simply does not understand the dynamics of the link economy. He roars against them. Google et al do not take his content, they send it audience and value. It is up to him to exploit that. The business failure here is Murdoch’s, not Google’s."
Exactly. Failure to adapt. Of course, Murdoch could try it, see that it doesn't work and then just as easily make his sites searchable again. If he does that he's going to have to eat a whole lot of crow and, from what I understand, billionaire businessmen aren't too fond of doing that.
I have a quote on my office door which I think is appropriate:
"In times of profound change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists."
Image courtesy of here.
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