The answer tends to depend on what their objectives were. However I don’t think Google made the best option that could have been had. I will get to that in a minute.
Is Mobility a good buy? Maybe. They do have the plant, equipment and personnel make Google a tier one device mfr. But I would point out that Apple is enjoying tier one results without the tier one expenditures in capital. So the M&A mgr might not look at that as the best deal in town. On that basis alone. So what might be worth the money spent? My guess — patents. Google needs a patent pool to defend Android. This is their way to do it. The manufacturing was a side benefit.
Could Google have done better? I think they could. Remember Google was a bidder in the FCC 700mhz `C` auction. Verizon who was the winner placed a winning bid of $4.7Bn. So lets say Google had won with $5Bn. Would they need patent protection for Android? Sure. But they would have had the network rights to trade with the right partners. One needs to think like Cprl. Klinger to understand that with the network in hand, Google could have traded access both with IP partners, manufacturing and design. Network is one of the few IT resources that are fungible unlike other IT tech.
Bottom line Google could have achieved the same aims at a lower price had they won the 700mhz auction.
The portly songstress is serenading a wind down at Google Labs. Searchzilla’s skunkworks has yielded a few winners, and many more losers. That’s the way of well funded, open ended research. A blog post from
Last week we explained that we’re prioritizing our product efforts. As part of that process, we’ve decided to wind down Google Labs. While we’ve learned a huge amount by launching very early prototypes in Labs, we believe that greater focus is crucial if we’re to make the most of the extraordinary opportunities ahead.
In many cases, this will mean ending Labs experiments—in others we’ll incorporate Labs products and technologies into different product areas. (Google Blog)
With very few exceptions, big, well funded research institutions do no perform well. It’s not just true at Google. Government, academic and corporate research funding rarely produce winners. There are notable exceptions like IBM’s labs, Xerox PARC, Bell labs and the Manhattan project. These institutions have been successful largely due to the secret sauce of extraordinarily exceptional talent and / or an extremely urgent, focused task. Consistently replicating that kind of success in nearly impossible. Even with an army of brilliance on staff, corporate politics usually squelch new ideas.
Big innovation will continue to come from the bootstrap funded basement and garage. Even Google’s biggest non search success (Andriod) originated there. While it’s sad to see its Labs fade into the horizon, Google may have correctly realized that innovation rarely happens in the big corporate environment. Mature organizations usually fare far better from buying – or stealing innovation.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier tonight that Microsoft–in what would be its most aggressive acquisition in the digital space–was zeroing in on buying Skype for $8.5 billion all in with an assumption of the Luxembourg-based company’s debt.Sources told BoomTown tonight that the deal for the online telephony and video communications giant is actually done and will be announced early tomorrow morning.
The purchase–which has been spearheaded in closely held negotiations by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, with an assist from top dealmaker Charles Songhurst–is a bold move for the software giant and its biggest acquisition in more than three decades.
The big price will give Microsoft–which has struggled in its online efforts and has lost billions of dollars for its work–a big brand name on the Web.
With Skype, which has been aggressively expanding, Microsoft will continue to lose money in its Internet efforts. Skype lost $7 million on revenue of $860 million. Operating profits, which Skype preferred to highlight, were $264 million.
And–let us not forget–Skype’s debt is $686 million. Silver lining: That’s slightly less than Microsoft’s Online Services division losses in its most recent quarter!
But, sources said, the concept is bigger than just money, including getting access to Skype’s 663 million registered users.
Which will probably explains why this was in development —
It’s nice to know that AIM and Gmail Chat (Google Talk) will finally become interoperable and the Gmail integration will no longer be necessary. Back in 2005, Google and AOL announced that “Google Talk users and AIM users will be able to communicate with one another” and two years later Gmail Chat integrated with AIM, but they didn’t become interoperable.
Now this is an interesting development. Not for the usual reasons either. Yes we will now see a minor telephony war in the alt carrier space. Good. But this is probably going to spill over into what is remaining of the old line telephony business.
A brutal features war will ensue. Followed by sub penny rates at some point as each camp attempts to steal market share. For Microsoft this compliments their Win7 phone platform by trying to build a community around the platform. Google is probably going to put renewed interests in their Gizmo5 acquisition. Google I am sure expected to utilize mobile as their new ad space genre. Well now they have the emphasis to do so.
Google has for years been the 800# gorilla in the room. Not because its an 800# gorilla (its is of course) but principally because it has had the room all to itself. Well that changes. Amazon is now entering the Ad space market. –
Upload Your Product Catalog and Set Your Budget
A Product Ad is created for each product that you upload to the Amazon.com catalog. Once you have registered, you can upload your items directly through Amazon’s online account management interface – Seller Central. Your ads will then appear on Amazon.com.
Customers See Your Product Ads on Amazon.com
Your Ads will be viewed by active Amazon.com customers 24/7 via Amazon product pages, as well as being displayed in relevant Amazon.com product search and browse results and contextually targeted placements.
Customers See Your Ads on Amazon.com
Customers Click to Product Pages on Your Website
When Amazon.com customers click on your ad they are taken directly to your Web site where you control the brand and buying experience for your products. This allows you to deliver a unique buying experience, giving you the opportunity to acquire new customers and grow revenue for your business.
You Are Charged a Cost-Per-Click
Using Seller Central, you can easily view your invoices and track your advertising budget. There are no fees for impressions – you are only charged when Amazon.com customers choose to click on your ad and are directed to your web site. You control not only the maximum price you are willing to pay for each click, but also your daily and monthly budget. Most importantly, you can measure your return on investment and optimize your budget accordingly. Invoices are published as you accumulate clicks and payment is collected via credit card.
Source
Is this a head to head battle? No. Amazon’s offer seems to play more to the cross ad merchandiser. The product featured maybe a gun. The cross sale would be ammunition from someone else. Now Amazon has done a great deal of this as part of its ‘related products’ section on their sales site. So what they have done is monetize the space permitting other players to do related ad placement in the spot.
Will it kill Google? Nope. Google is in so many niches that Amazon won’t even touch using this approach. Ad placement in Gmail for example. But if Amazon can garner say a 8-12% placement on its services that should be sufficient to start a minor adjustment in ad rates. For the small business using such services that is a win all round.
Will Amazon be cheaper? Hard to tell. If your business is as a accessory supplier for other products then Amazon might be a good fit. Amazon has generally focused on providing the end user/business more control than Google ever has. So you might have a better control of your ad dollars and where they are placed. That that is a small concern compared to the main one — take rates. Till there is some history available about this service it will be hard to tell.
Well if you use Gmail like maybe half the planet does, then 150k is small potatoes %wise. Of course till you are one of those 150k, right?
This is the soft underbelly of SAAS that nobody likes to talk about. Just throw enough servers and load balancers and call it a day. Well not so quick. Like even the best SAAS providers should be archiving as part of their service suite. Oh you might have to pay an extra fee, but if you don’t. Heh, well don’t cry in your beer. Just write your RIF notice and have it done with.
Anyhow, have not heard the cause from Google as yet. We’ll update when we hear something.
HT: Lifehacker
If you’re paying attention to what Google’s CEO says and the company’s actions, it’s “do no evil” credo is getting to be a tough sell for it’s PR people. That is at least where the right to privacy is concerned. Google’s Schmidt has stated bluntly that this right does not exist. As mere commentary or a matter of corporate policy, that kind of talk will guarantee plenty of reaction like the video above.
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