.mobi Google to eventually reign in the mobile realm too?

[skeitel]

Interesting article here.
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/...=0d0fa453-8a22-4dd0-b244-53f03146da8e&k=11216
The market share Google has in the mobile market I think that will determine how powerful is their voice within the .mobi consortium, and thus shape .mobi's destiny (hint: they already dominate search, they dominate the advertising platform...only back-end grid remains to be conquered)

Of course, Google will choose to go with whatever the market tells them to go in that moment, being .mobi, or .com still as king served in bigger screen devices (see my previous post "device to keep an eye on")

What do you guys think?


PS/ I liked this phrase in the article:
""Google has publicly denied plans to get into the lucrative business, ""
Yeah, I know, and Hitler said that he wouldn't invade Poland. Perhaps somebody expects google to be advertising clearly their future intentions?

 

[zhalefarin]

with the advent of the iphone (it doesn't use .mobi just reg sites) i think the .mobi market will probably start declining. So if google does in fact gain market prominence in the .mobi market it won't be for long and might be a wasted investment unless some other medium comes into play.

 

[skeitel]

with the advent of the iphone (it doesn't use .mobi just reg sites) i think the .mobi market will probably start declining. So if google does in fact gain market prominence in the .mobi market it won't be for long and might be a wasted investment unless some other medium comes into play.

what other mediums would you envision coming into play? I am not sure i understand your last phrase. Could you elaborate? Thanks!

 

[zhalefarin]

I honestly can't think of any real ones but... what if, like the $100 dollar laptop, the $10 cell phone is invented for third world countries. Most likely it wouldn't be as advanced as the iphone thus it would likely rely on the .mobi domains

 

[dgridley]

I don't doubt that Google could have a big influence in the way mobile users access the web, but can't see them getting involved with the hardware end of things. One advantage is, in enter the playing field after the iPhone, it can avoid it's failures and build on it's successes.

MOBI needs some serious players to enter the fray and support the ext.. we also need more phones similar to the Kyocera KX21 (with full QWERTY keyboard) that are available to the non-contract, prepaid users ( a HUGE market share) and flat rate data access to encourage mobile web browsing. IMO

 

[skeitel]

I don't doubt that Google could have a big influence in the way mobile users access the web, but can't see them getting involved with the hardware end of things. One advantage is, in enter the playing field after the iPhone, it can avoid it's failures and build on it's successes.

Corporatively, Google has proved that it is active -and relatively good- at doing at least two things: buying companies and making partnerships. I see no problem for them entering the mobile field. They've got the cash and the talent. I've heard rumors of the Google phone, and I think that'll be their first step.
They have also been involved in the hardware side of things already, as in their part on the project to make (was it wireless broadband?) available in San Francisco. They want to own whole channels of delivery, although they usually start by making partnerships.

 

[dgridley]

Although, I was really surprised, especially in retrospect, that something along the lines of sponsored mobile calling never happened. I thought perhaps some corporate giant would offer free mobile service for the privelege of sending text or ads to your phone. Closest thing I've seen is Virgin Mobile's Sugar Mama where you get free minutes for watching a video or survey.

The first comapny to offer free branded mobile access would have a real footup IMO.

Corporatively, Google has proved that it is active -and relatively good- at doing at least two things: buying companies and making partnerships. I see no problem for them entering the mobile field. They've got the cash and the talent. I've heard rumors of the Google phone, and I think that'll be their first step.
They have also been involved in the hardware side of things already, as in their part on the project to make (was it wireless broadband?) available in San Francisco. They want to own whole channels of delivery, although they usually start by making partnerships.

 

[quasar1138]

This article is dead on!.

Google has been buying up dark fiber for sometime and there has been a long series of discussions among engineers in other tech companies as to what Google will do with all of that capacity. It does make sense for Google to move all of their traffic off the current backbones onto it's own network. They would save billions of dollars a year doing this.

I think that a more significant issue that the article did not focus on is whether Google would adhere to certain cooperative rules they agreed to among many nations of the world regarding privacy, data retention, data filtering, and data disclosure practices.

If they were able to move all of their data traffic onto their own network, they could do just about anything on that network and no one outside of the company would know.

1. They could retain data from all the search results across the globe and use the information for targeting ads to specific demographic groups on their mobile devices and personal computers.....directly. This would bypass even major advertising firms and their telco providers.

2. They could control mobile commerce in a way so that they could circumvent Ebay's dominance of Internet commerce. Ebay is Google's largest customer and has been resisting the search giants attempts to get into the shopping cart service arena. Ebay has no real presents in mobile commerce. Google could very easily move into that arena and take it over since there are just a few big players in this global market.

3. Google has had issues with foreign countries wanting limits on the search giants content. China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, even Pakistan have all placed limits on Google as to what information from the the Internet is available in their country. If Google had their own network, Google would have full control of the data so therefore these countries could not firewall or block content from the search giant. Google could reach all consumers directly through their mobile devices.

As for Google's participation in the SFO experiment, it is really two fold. They are determining how mobile ads can be deployed in an urban area and they are determining if they can supply the tools necessary for companies to participate in such a business model.

Good article....thanks skeitel

 

[jmarti]

it is a pleasure to read such interesting posts. That's what forums are for, imho. will Google respect privacy concerns and not exchange information gotten from the different branches of their business? I don't think so. If you look at their strategy, that goes totally against it. google's strategy is surrounding the user with services hey can't live without, and surely crossing information between platforms to have the most accurate picture of users in order to target advertising better to them.
That's clear. The Google of now is very different form the google of 5 years ago...

 

[Jeff]

TOTD™ (Thread Of The Day), IMHO ... very informative, thought provoking, and, for me, simply fascinating what may lie ahead with Google in the broadband and mobile arenas. I had heard the whispers of the "dark fiber" capacity acquisitions, but this link and some of the ensuing discussion really opened my eyes! :gl:

Google Phones™ may very well be the evolution of today's iPhone! W :o W. :imho:
See you soon.
-Jeff