Three articles on google, the company that seems to be anywhere and everywhere. Thinking about it today I was reminded that in the mid-90's, Microsoft was the software company taking over every market, putting fear into the hearts of managers everywhere. Ten years later, Google seems wears that crown, even causing Microsoft to blink.
Of course, entering a business isnt the same thing as succeeding in a business.
GBuy enters the online payment market.
PayPal Prepares For a Challenge From Google
February 6, 2006
When Jeff Jordan learned last May that Web-search leader Google Inc. was building its own Internet-payment service, he reacted swiftly.
Mr. Jordan, who is president of eBay Inc.'s PayPal online-payments unit, immediately asked employees to unearth information about the Google service. Soon, PayPal employees were monitoring blogs, news reports and other data for information about Google's progress in payments. PayPal staffers even gleaned details about Google's plans during regular calls to customers who were eager to dish about how Google had reached out to them.
"It's a very legitimate competitive threat," says Mr. Jordan, 47 years old. "It's hard not to pay attention to what Google is doing."
While Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt confirmed in press accounts that the company was building a payment service, Mr. Schmidt also denied it would directly compete with PayPal. Mr. Schmidt said Google didn't intend to offer a "person-to-person, stored-value payments system," which many people consider a description of PayPal's service.
Most consumers think of Google as "search" but if you follow the money, their real business is advertising. And business is good.
In Latest Deal, Google Steps Further Into World of Old Media
Internet Giant Expands Role As an Advertising Broker; Automating Radio Sales Next Target May Be Television
January 18, 2006
Google Inc. has brought in billions of dollars in revenue by brokering advertisements that appear on Web sites. Now it is taking its ad machine beyond the Internet in an ambitious quest to place ads in traditional media such as newspapers and radio.
The move could open enormous new markets to the search company. But it could also test the limits of Google's automated ad-placement technology that brought it more than $3 billion in online ad revenue in 2004.
The Mountain View, Calif., company yesterday announced the latest prong of its offline-ad efforts, the acquisition of closely held dMarc Broadcasting Inc. of Newport Beach, Calif. DMarc runs an online system for advertisers to buy radio airtime. It then automatically slots the advertisers' commercials into radio stations' computers for broadcast. The deal calls for Google to pay $102 million in cash and up to an additional more than $1.1 billion over three years if dMarc meets certain targets.
Google and others are trying to shake up the balance of power in PC hardware. This is an old issue that seems to be getting new attention as the market (and companies) continues to mature.
Pressuring Microsoft, PC Makers Team Up With Its Software Rivals
Dell Is in Talks With Google To Use Search Services; Winning Loyalty at Set-Up 'A Magic Time for End Users'
February 7, 2006
It takes only about five minutes to set up a new personal computer by clicking through a series of introductory screens. In that time, however, many consumers choose software and services they will often use for the life of their machine. Historically, Microsoft Corp. held great sway over this "first-boot sequence" as well as other software preinstalled in the factory.
Now PC makers including Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. are beginning to take more control over this crucial real estate. They increasingly are trying to sell this space to service providers and software makers, such as Google Inc. After a year of sometimes tense negotiations with Google and PC makers, Microsoft has ceded ground on some key technical details.
In what would be the most significant example of this shift, Google is in serious negotiations to get its software installed on millions of Dell PCs before they are shipped to users, according to people familiar with the matter. Under the deal being discussed, Google, of Mountain View, Calif., could pay Dell fees approaching $1 billion over three years, these people estimate. The terms might change and the discussions could fail. Any agreement would be the latest in a series of similar deals with computer manufacturers the giant Internet search company has signed.
