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The industry at large and Apple in particular is coming at them from the other direction preferring premium, furthering ad blockers and offering better privacy

by aleem 9y ago

The industry at large and Apple in particular is coming at them from the other direction preferring premium, furthering ad blockers and offering better privacy defaults (iOS 11). Elon Musk has gone so far as to allude that Google is the only AI company that worries him[1]. And so it goes. Coupled with AI and the amount of data they are able to feed into the AI engines, I am guessing this won't regress their ad targeting. They have also managed to supplant it with other avenues. Google Travel, Google Calendar and other apps have explicit permission to read your email, Google serves email images off their own servers which gives them a tracking beacon and behavioural data across cohorts. All this adds a level of indirection but still gives them access to behavioural data and user intent. [1] http://www.androidauthority.com/elon-musk-on-ai-696198/ http://www.androidauthority.com/elon-musk-on-ai-696198/

snowman311 9y ago
Agreed. The Google Ad Machine will never stop running. But, I think they will diversify their revenue streams in the coming years. Forces outside of Google's control such as governments and competition will begin to push back on the "all you can eat buffet" of personal data that Google has enjoyed in the past years. Based on the numbers in the article like doubling their "large business" user base in the past year, I think Diane Greene will lead them to generating huge revenue in the Enterprise sector. Also, I think freemium versions of Google software, directed at consumers, will be increasingly popular in the future.
hedora 9y ago
Apple does seem to be paying more than lip service to privacy. Are there any other examples? Microsoft's "premium" push is actually moving toward more invasive surveillance. They've been ramping up the marketing doublespeak about their "telemetry" in the last 12 months. Maybe that is a sign they'll back off sometime soon, but so far, it's "Full steam ahead, users be damned."

by aleem 9y ago

snowman311 9y ago

Agreed. The Google Ad Machine will never stop running. But, I think they will diversify their revenue streams in the coming years. Forces outside of Google's control such as governments and competition will begin to push back on the "all you can eat buffet" of personal data that Google has enjoyed in the past years. Based on the numbers in the article like doubling their "large business" user base in the past year, I think Diane Greene will lead them to generating huge revenue in the Enterprise sector. Also, I think freemium versions of Google software, directed at consumers, will be increasingly popular in the future.

hedora 9y ago

Apple does seem to be paying more than lip service to privacy. Are there any other examples? Microsoft's "premium" push is actually moving toward more invasive surveillance. They've been ramping up the marketing doublespeak about their "telemetry" in the last 12 months. Maybe that is a sign they'll back off sometime soon, but so far, it's "Full steam ahead, users be damned."