Google Tablet with 3-D?

Google acquired BumpTop. This looks like another move by Google to acquire the functionality to take on Apple.



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This not only intensifies competition between Apple and Google.  I think it also pushes the frontier in terms of natural interfaces for engagement with content and applications.
Where is Microsoft? What will we see from Redmond?

It's all in the details: Where do MSFT, Google and Apple Make their $$

These charts taken together tell a more complete story.

Apple

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Microsoft

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Google

Tackling Bandwidth in the Next Decade: Public and Private Approaches

In the last two days there have been numerous stories around the US government’s – by way of the FCC – efforts to provide 50-100 MBS to 100 million citizens by the year 2020. In addition to this goal, the plan lays out five additional goals:

1. US should lead the world in mobile innovation;

2. Every American should have access to robust broadband services;

3. Every community should have at least one high-speed broadband access point;

4. Every first responder should have access to nationwide wireless network; and,

5. To support clean energy initiatives, US households should have access to a high-speed network to more efficiently manage their households

This will be made available through a ”revenue-neutral” model that will be funded through an auction of 500 MHz of spectrum, recently made available due to the switch of TV broadcasts from analog to digital.

On the other end of the spectrum (pun not intended), Google is soliciting offers from cities and towns to build “an advanced data network capable of downloading Internet data at one billion bits per second”. The purpose, as publically stated, is to see just what the public can do with really high-speed Internet access. However, for their efforts, Google will look to sell access to that network on a subscription basis and, at those speeds, will be able to completely blow away the competition (if users select solely on the basis of download speeds).

The government’s plan represents a 16x-20x increase over currently available speeds, which would be in-line with expectations espoused by proponents of the Bandwidth Law. The Google plan, if (a) feasible and (b) implemented, would obliterate the underlying tenets of that law and would pose a significant challenge to the overlap of bandwidth, storage, and processing. Google could certainly supplement and complement the adoption of Internet speeds this high through its storage capabilities; however, where would the processing power come from in order to enable users to make meaningful use of these speeds? It seems as though the governmental approach is much more in-line with expectations among the other necessary components of the bandwidth-processing-storage triumvirate in order to maximize the value of all three.

By the way, there are Facebook fan pages put up by the different municipalities, but I could not find any Buzz feeds related to this:

http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=google+high+speed+internet&init=quick

Google's foray into Image Search

Google has recently started Google Goggles which can translate text captured in photos. Google uses image recognition technology and helps in searching images. So it'll be very beneficial to mobile users as they can click pictures and get relevant information about the objects.

Two important observations:
1. This image search does not use tagging. So it's a completely new technology where images are being matched from a different database of images.

2. This is an example where different technologies are converging. It's a beautiful combination of Digital Signal Processing and Databases.

Google's Ad Revenue Mix

This chart says a lot about where Google gets its revenue and why it needs multiple hooks to get people to come to Google sites. Note that this chart is different from the numbers reported by Google because it allocates the traffic acquisition costs directly against the revenue from ads on other sites (AdSense). It also reminds us why we need to delve deeper than high-level statements and figures often bandied about in various places. 
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So, if Google is largely a destination site that depends on people visiting and spending time on its properties, then it needs to recognize the importance of social networking and threat from Facebook (and Twitter).  There are strong rumors that Twitter will launch an advertising platform soon.  Facebook already has its advertising platform. 
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And there is the mobile advertising battleground....

Microsoft-Google-Apple: Observations on their future potential

Here's a video that provides additional information on the growth potential and challenges facing the three companies that we have discussed during the course. Take a look at it and offer your own comments and observations.

Will e-books and readers become commodities?

I noticed that Amazon developed a free app last year that makes it easy for people to read e-publications purchased from the Kindle store on their iPhones. However, they still require you to own a Kindle before buying Kindle books.

Amazon would clearly like to control the platform for e-publications, especially since they make a nice profit margin on each Kindle they sell. The free app attempts to create "coopetition" with Apple, giving Kindle users added value by allowing them to access their content through the iPhone, but still requiring they have a Kindle as their primary reader. The iPhone is probably fine for reading for ten minutes on the subway, the Kindle better for curling up with a novel on a Sunday afternoon. So the devices seem complementary, helping Amazon establish the Kindle format as a standard.

But I wonder what will happen as people devise ways to port content to the iPad and other devices. Is it possible to maintain closed standards for very long? As a consumer, I'd love to be able to access my purchased content on a Kindle, an iPad, a PC, a cheap Kindle knock-off, or any device I choose. And I'd be thrilled if there were dozens of discount e-publication sites all achieving parity in terms of selection and ease-of-use, and competing mostly on price.

Know who else would be happy with this situation? Google. If I'm buying from multiple sites, I'd want a centralized place to access my content. I'm sure Google would be happy to host it in the cloud. They would see all my reading preferences and could send me targeted advertising from the various e-book sites clamoring to attract my business.

I guess that's why Google tends to promote open standards and to be so popular with consumers and so disruptive to companies trying to dominate particular markets.

Google in the Wedding Planning Business??

Is Google getting into the wedding planning business?? Take a look at this blog and decide what this means? See also here.
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Distribution of Nexus One - Another disruptive approach from Google

Google has always been a successful (I believe so!! ) innovator in terms of its product offerings. However, will Google's approach to the distribution of it's Nexus One turn out promising?

When consumers are paying $500 for a handset, the least that they can ask for is a chance to hold it in their hands and to play around with the features before making a decision. But Google is trying to redefine the distribution by putting Nexus up for online-only sales. Google hasn't stopped there, but has also allowed the user to buy the handset and then choose the carrier/plan they want (excluding AT&T of course).

It is clear that Google has taken the second big step toward shifting power from the carriers to device manufacturers, after Apple. Nexus sales* so far doesn't look promising (when compared to Droid and MyTouch 3G) and raises questions whether Google has taken the correct decision. But I feel that Google was quite aware of the implications of its new approach and that this decision is part of their long term strategy and vision. Google is all about reaching out directly to its customers and eliminating any opportunity for a third party to have a control on the way customers use its products and services.

In the down side, Google is inviting anti-trust law suits (imagine a Google world where you have a Nexus One powered by Android in your hand and you manage your data, appointments, contacts, social networks with Google Docs, Calendar, gmail, Buzz etc. - sounds like another Microsoft in mobile version). I'm wondering what Google's next big plan might be - a netbook? may be/may be not - I welcome your thoughts on this.

* This article is an interview with the President of Marketing at Flurry, a mobile analytics company that uses software embedded in applications to track handset sales.

Google's Fiber Network Infrastructure--Just an experiment?

I thought we had a lively discussion about Google today as we tried to sort through the impact and implications of Chrome, Android, Apps, Nexus One and Buzz.  Here's a video worth taking a look at as we think about Google's trajectory of evolution over the next decade.  More details are in the blog.

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Again, the same set of three questions: (1) Why is Google pursuing this? (2) Who besides Google and consumers benefit? and (3) Who loses? 

Thoughts.. Reactions..??

An additional video from MarketWatch

Apple Versus Google: Beyond High-level Comparisons

We will examine the areas of competition and cooperation between Apple and Google on Wednesday. Here's a magazine article from Business Week that provides some relevant color commentary on this rivalry. Again, as we discussed in the class, the table 'Same but Different" is interesting at a general level but is not as insightful from a strategy point of view. There have been recent attempts to arrive at comparative analysis between Google and Apple (and in some cases involving other companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo and others). Here's a NY Times blog post focused on a 'big-picture' look. Again, I believe that the Table (reproduced below) is interesting at a general (popular) level but can be more insightful.

See how you can develop a comparative analysis that can bring out the subtle but significant areas of similarities and differences between Apple and Google from a strategy point of view.

Rivalry in the eBooks (iBooks!) market

There has been a lot of debate over where Apple ipad fits in. However the publishers surely know where it fits in as implied by revolt of Macmillan. Excerpts from the article:

Just days after the wraps were taken off the iPad, Macmillan informed Amazon it wanted to begin charging between 12.99 and 14.99 dollars for e-book versions of most hardcover new releases and bestsellers.

Some interesting points worth debating:

1. Apple complained about Google entering its core market with Android. Google CEO Eric Schmidt's resignation from Apple board and Steve Jobs statement elucidates increase in rivalry. It seems with iBooks from Apple, Google vs Apple rivalry will dominate the Google vs Microsoft rivalry.

2. It remains to be seen if Google and Amazon will partner forgetting earlier rivalry considering Apple is attracting a lot of publishers.

3. Last but not the least, in a two sided network, there is a subsidy side. With the publishers like Macmillan revolting and demanding higher price for their titles, it remains to be seen how Amazon walks the tightrope of not annoying Kindle users (A reader will not like to pay $14.99 when he is used to pay $9.99 for an ebook).