Comments on Digital Street Smarts: A New Decade Finds Google Under Assault

To follow up on this post and comments above, here...

2010-09-13T10:04:55.531-04:00

To follow up on this post and comments above, here are two great articles that explore the future of the Net, WWW vs. Apps, Google vs. Apple and Facebook, Open vs. Closed, Free vs. Paid content, etc. Is it an all or nothing world? I believe the Web can co-exist with the closed platforms. Users will always need fast answers to their questions and the open Web/Search will continue to offer the best answer experience.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/08/ff_webrip/all/1

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/technology/13future.html?_r=1&ref=business

We live in provocative times. What do you think?

CNBC report about Google at a crossroads with Disp...

2010-05-17T10:00:28.992-04:00

CNBC report about Google at a crossroads with Display advertising...can they extend their search dominance? Can inquiry targeting capabilities extend to persuasion advertising?http://www.cnbc.com/id/37152946

Great Mashable post here that adds to the argument...

2010-05-11T16:10:21.205-04:00

Great Mashable post here that adds to the argument that Google has real challenges ahead and lays out 5 reasons why their search franchise is vulnerable.

http://mashable.com/2010/04/29/google-search-wont-dominate/

Regarding Dave's comments re: Google's abi...

2010-05-03T09:13:08.411-04:00

Regarding Dave's comments re: Google's ability to remain an innovation leader.. It's important to define the categories in which we expect Google/Apple/Microsoft/Facebook to lead and innovate.

Google -let's face it- is generally a one-trick pony. Search & Ads. They are in the mobile business to funnel more inquiries and data back to their search engine, which in turn fuels their ad revenue. In this capacity they are, and will remain for some time, the very best.

Apple, on the other hand, comes from a end-user product perspective. They are product and experience designers with 25 years of success.

When placed on the canvas of media and device convergence, I think we are beginning to see that those who control the experience (Apple) vs the content (Google) might be the winners. So- I think we can all expect that iAds will be a breakout success. Why? B/c it's a platform that will create ads with which people want to interact.

Contrast that with Google's foray into Apple's home turf, device design: The Nexus phone is basically a flop.

In the converged era, Google might have to hire a few non-engineers if they want to remain relevant. Otherwise, if they are not careful, they will wind up like IBM's mainframes - useful, but out of site and out of mind.

Great piece! Very informative.

2010-04-30T11:04:35.066-04:00

Great piece! Very informative.

Good Mashable blog post about Apple mobile search ...

2010-04-29T10:09:50.263-04:00

Good Mashable blog post about Apple mobile search using voice, etc. and what this could mean for Google. http://mashable.com/2010/04/28/siri-mobile-search/#

Agree that voice is important. But voice, keyboard...

2010-04-28T13:54:29.745-04:00

Agree that voice is important. But voice, keyboard, and clicking on hyperlinks is not going to be sufficient. I believe that Google is squandering its position as innovation leader and has a very short window for recovery.

The web and consumer entertainment are under enormous evolutionary pressure. I don't see Google responding in way that positions them to prosper and dominate in the new eco-system.

Great comments, Aaron. I should have listed Googl...

2010-04-28T11:42:35.031-04:00

Great comments, Aaron. I should have listed Google's launch of Buzz. How is Buzz doing?

Great summary, Jack. Google's Baazarvoice acqu...

2010-04-28T10:02:29.281-04:00

Great summary, Jack. Google's Baazarvoice acquisition is particularly interesting, I think, b/c it further highlights their broad strategy of enveloping the entire web with a variety of their services vs FB's strategy of starting from a single domain and then branching out.

From a social media point of view, Google's primary strategy is simply to index the social media content of the other platforms along with the rest of the web. This includes FB, Twitter, and now Baazarvoice. At present, that seems to be getting better results vs their own efforts in social media and collaboration (see Buzz and Wave).

I'm keeping an eye on their Android platform and voice search technologies, especially. We talk a lot about iPad and touch interfaces, but Google is focusing on "talk" interfaces + indexing audio search requests and content. It is important to keep in mind that all voice commands through the android platform pass through google. Even basic "Call Mom" commands. That's a valuable source of data that will continue to grow along with Android sales.

Final note- when we think about the home systems of the future, voice will be as/more important than touch / motion. Google is experimenting here with GoogleTV and providing ISP services, so I'm sure this war will stretch out on even more fronts over the next few years...