It seems like "Google" and "King Midas" are almost interchangeable--everything they touch is gold. Over the past few years, Google has established its dominance and demanded customer use. It started its success by becoming the most useful search engine, and ever since has expanded into new facets exponentially. Even in the past months, I've discussed the impact of Google's latest releases, including Google Voice, Google OneBox, and even Google's supported phone (Droid). While these new applications are yet to make their full impact, they have shown potential and have opened the doors to new and innovative opportunities.
In fact, not surprisingly, Google recently released yet another application, Google Wave. This new application's primary goal is to simplify the group email process so that it is easier to add or remove individuals from an email thread. According to Leah Betancourt of "Mashable," it has been used in the media world for "community building, real-time discussion, crowdsourcing, collaboration both inside and outside the newsroom, and for cross publishing content." She mentions that in essence, it is bringing elements of different communication tools (email, social networking, and chat) to other applications (Google maps and calendars) into one cohesive unit.
Based on this description, Google Wave has potential to revolutionize online communication once again. This consolidation of tools may provide individual users and companies alike with an unbelievably useful tool. However, Tris Hussey of "A View from the Isle" makes a formidable argument otherwise. He responds to Leah's post, "Huh, funny that kinda sounds like what message boards and blogs have been doing for a while. What’s different now?" He simply believes that it's too early to know if this new application is going to change anything at all.
While Tris makes a good point that it's too early to tell what Google Wave's impact will be, it's existence alone is enough to be noted. Regardless of whether Google Wave that revolutionizes online communication, it has set a new standard for other social media and communication tools to follow. As usual, Google has opened a new door to the online world that will without a doubt influence the future of the internet.
It looks to me like a small shift in the tide might get some waves to start rolling in.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
The Attack of The Droid
On Friday, November 6th, Motorola and it's partner Verizon Wireless released the highly anticipated "Droid" smartphone. This launch was not highly anticipated because of the new, innovative technological advancements it made to its competitor the iPhone. In fact, it is behind in this regard because of its lack of "apps," which the iPhone markets as being incredibly valuable.
It was highly anticipated because it offered an escape from AT&T's service.
AT&T's coverage has been under-fire recently because it seems to lack quality coverage. In a USA Today article (that analyzes the lawsuit about Verizon's knock-off "There's A Map For That" campain), AT&T's service is questioned, "The reality is that (AT&T's) network is not performing well in many markets," says Walter Piecyk, a Pali Research analyst. "And the perception among consumers is even worse than reality."
Because customers are loyal to the iPhone interface, but have become overwhelmingly frustrated by AT&T's coverage, the Droid was expected to be a reasonable alternative. Many in the industry felt the same way, namely blogger Matthew Shaer, stated that while "Maybe it wasn't the iPhone-obliterating launch that some Droid-loving pundits predicted...it was a major-league kick-off, no matter how you slice it." He goes on to give reasons why the launch was a pretty impressive success.
I agree, and I raise him "an impressive success with a more impressive future."
However, not everyone agrees with Mr. Shaer and I. Cramer, a critique for the phonereviews' blog, believes that the Droid was a disappointing phone with an even more disappointing debut in the smartphone market. Based on his short critique, I can only extrapolate that he does not see a bright future for the Droid in the market.
I beg to differ. While the Droid now has only 250,000 customers in its opening week compared to the iPhone 3G's 1.6 million, the amount of Droid customers will continue to rise. Based on the quality of coverage that Verizon provides over AT&T, many of the original 1.6 million iPhone users will be making the switch to the Droid.
When it comes down to it, if two phones are shown to offer similar, equal quality services (apps, texting, high-speed internet), customers will side with the phone that has the best coverage--every phone's most important attribute. With Verizon's coverage decimating that of AT&T, Steve Jobs is going to have to strike another chord of brilliance in the marketing world, or the Droid is likely to take over the planet.
It was highly anticipated because it offered an escape from AT&T's service.
AT&T's coverage has been under-fire recently because it seems to lack quality coverage. In a USA Today article (that analyzes the lawsuit about Verizon's knock-off "There's A Map For That" campain), AT&T's service is questioned, "The reality is that (AT&T's) network is not performing well in many markets," says Walter Piecyk, a Pali Research analyst. "And the perception among consumers is even worse than reality."
Because customers are loyal to the iPhone interface, but have become overwhelmingly frustrated by AT&T's coverage, the Droid was expected to be a reasonable alternative. Many in the industry felt the same way, namely blogger Matthew Shaer, stated that while "Maybe it wasn't the iPhone-obliterating launch that some Droid-loving pundits predicted...it was a major-league kick-off, no matter how you slice it." He goes on to give reasons why the launch was a pretty impressive success.
I agree, and I raise him "an impressive success with a more impressive future."
However, not everyone agrees with Mr. Shaer and I. Cramer, a critique for the phonereviews' blog, believes that the Droid was a disappointing phone with an even more disappointing debut in the smartphone market. Based on his short critique, I can only extrapolate that he does not see a bright future for the Droid in the market.
I beg to differ. While the Droid now has only 250,000 customers in its opening week compared to the iPhone 3G's 1.6 million, the amount of Droid customers will continue to rise. Based on the quality of coverage that Verizon provides over AT&T, many of the original 1.6 million iPhone users will be making the switch to the Droid.
When it comes down to it, if two phones are shown to offer similar, equal quality services (apps, texting, high-speed internet), customers will side with the phone that has the best coverage--every phone's most important attribute. With Verizon's coverage decimating that of AT&T, Steve Jobs is going to have to strike another chord of brilliance in the marketing world, or the Droid is likely to take over the planet.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The Google OneBox Could’ve Changed Everything
Luckily for the music industry, the rumors weren’t true about the now-live Google OneBox music service was intended to do.
According to Brad Sams' blog, “Most were expecting, or wanting, a service similar to what Google offers in China. In China, Google offers free music because piracy has nearly killed all legitimate music sales.” While huge lawsuits would have likely been engendered if they had executed this rumored plan, music fans were very hopeful.
Instead, the Google OneBox is simply being used to provide previews of songs on Google’s landing page, and then providing links to other music selling websites. Clearly this will prove to be a profitable move for Google, because companies offering music on their site will bid on the links directly under the music sample.
To me, however, this is only a small piece of a much bigger issue.
What if Google decided to provide a similar service to the one offered in China that many had hoped for?
As stated in BBC News’ article about the new feature, Google could have potentially avoided legal issues if it decided to provide a link to a torrent next to the song, where the consumer could use BitTorrent to pirate the music. This would be incredibly valuable to Google because people looking for music would go to Google as their primary source of acquiring music.
This shows the extraordinary power of the new digital age. The powerhouse of the digital media industry could easily provide what could be the fatal blow to the entire music industry with the click of a button.
The once colossal music industry continues to struggle in the new digital age, and can’t seem to find a way out. With the looming implementation of the new service, the music industry labels were probably frantically clawing for hope with nothing but helplessness and fear on their minds like lobsters in a tank.
Finally, they can take a breath of fresh air.
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