More great news from the G-Men and G-Girls down in Mountain View – social networking goodness is now available from Google, in the form of Google Buzz.Since their first attempt at a standalone social network, Orkut, never achieved escape velocity (exceto no Brasil!), Google is trying again. Only this time, they are stealing a page from Microsoft and using an existing dominant franchise to force their new offering into the marketplace. Oh, and incidentally crush the incumbents.
The CNET coverage has this perfect sentence:
Google is attempting to do this [compete with Facebook] by taking Gmail, one of its more popular products, and integrating Buzz directly into the Gmail interface.
I mean, the parallel construction just writes itself!
Microsoft is attempting to do this [compete with Netscape] by taking Windows, one of its more popular products, and integrating Internet Explorer directly into the Windows interface.
But Google's not content to just crush a strong competitor by leveraging their market-leading franchise! Remember, these are the smartest people in technology! Today they also announced they'll be crushing a few puny start-ups. Fourquare and Gowalla, with all of 200,000 subscribers between them (divide that number into their $20M in combined venture money for a laugh) will henceforth be known as "that thing I tried before Google Buzz for mobile came along".
(Incidentally, I'm looking forward to the day I receive my last Foursquare-initiated tweet, that charming idea got old incredibly fast. I don't care if you're at the 7-11!)
Keep on sucking up all the oxygen in the room G-People, yours is the fire that purifies, that consumes us down to the ashes of our soul and monetizes the dust left behind.
4 comments:
In its early days Google would develop internally a myriad of half-baked offerings, throw them on the wall (Google Labs), see what sticks, and focus on it. They don't have to do this any more -- just monitor the marketplace, see what gathers momentum, then incorporate it into their product line.
Countless other business examples abound. Just one: Microsoft killed WinZIP by including the functionality in WinXP.
Paul, you realize you do have a Google Friend Connect on the right side of this posting, right? :)
And I still don't have as many followers as Warmerdam! Why cruel world!? (Just because Microsoft was an IT bully in 1995 didn't mean I could avoid using Windows 95. I just want to take a few mm off the layer of sanctimony that still gives Google a glossy sheen. They are the Microsoft of the new millennium.)
I read somewhere the cost of electricity amortized over the life of a computer now exceeds hardware costs.
Google has applied with FERC to be a power marketer.
http://theenergycollective.com/TheEnergyCollective/58495
Instead of worrying about them becoming the next Microsoft, perhaps we should be more concerned about them emulating Enron.
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