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The article does not make it clear if Google will allow Amazon to list products on an even playing field with those of the B&M retailers they mention. This is a

The article does not make it clear if Google will allow Amazon to list products on an even playing field with those of the B&M retailers they mention. This is an important distinction. If they do allow Amazon to list, then it provides little benefit for B&M retailers against Amazon since there is already a Google Shopping component that provides this (except without some of the more enhanced checkout features). If they do not allow Amazon to list, its one of the most anti-competitive behaviors I can imagine, akin to Microsoft refusing to allow Chrome to run on Windows.

ocdtrekkie 9y ago
I suspect this will not be "we won't allow Amazon to list", but "we've specifically designed this to be incredibly unappealing for Amazon to list". Given the mentioned notions of integrating Google with cart and payment operations, this probably won't be too hard for them to accomplish. Google's smart enough to know not to explicitly block a competitor, they just make it impossible for the competitor to participate. (For instance, requiring Play Books be installed to get the Play Store guarantees Amazon can't ever sign up to get Google Apps on the Kindle.)
- philipodonnell 9y ago
  > Google's smart enough to know not to explicitly block a competitor, they just make it impossible for the competitor to participate. This will be an interesting legal issue when it inevitably gets into the courts. A judge will want to know from Amazon what product features prevent it from participating in Google's product and then will look to see why Google has that feature in place. If its clear its only there to keep Amazon from participating, that can be found to be the same as explicitly blocking them. If its structural however, such as an integrated shopping cart, that's much harder to argue is targeting Amazon so much as retailers that don't want to integrate carts. It still feels an awful lot like using an effective monopoly in one space (search) to try to create one in another space (buy).
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > Google's smart enough to know not to explicitly block a competitor, they just make it impossible for the competitor to participate. (For instance, requiring Play Books be installed to get the Play Store guarantees Amazon can't ever sign up to get Google Apps on the Kindle.) They could, as Barnes and Noble proved when they went full Google Android from their forked version with the Nook; they won't want to for the same reason B&N didn't want to until it had proven it couldn't get anywhere with it's forked version, since it would be opening up Amazon's walled garden and letting Google's competing market in. Similarly with cart/payment integration: those don't make it impossible for Amazon to integrate. They just make it undesirable for Amazon since that's Amazon's central value proposition to third-party vendors, and Amazon has no desire to strengthen the appeal of any other platform that offers that for customers and, thereby, other vendors. Amazon isn't going to stay off because they are blocked (whether directly or indirectly), they are going to stay off because they need it to fail, because it is a replacement for Amazon's already-dominant marketplace, and any gains it makes with consumers and third-party vendors are at Amazon's expense.
jacksmith21006 9y ago
Sure Google will not prohibit Amazon. But they should consider doing so unless Amazon lifts the ban on ALL companies from being allowed to sell certain Google products on their market place. It is fine if Amazon does not want to sell but banning everyone else is crossing a line, IMO.
sathackr 9y ago
Amazon is refusing to list Google products on its site. How is it any different if Google refuses to list Amazon products on its search engine?
- philipodonnell 9y ago
  They are both pretty damn anti-competitive. I expect they will be penalized or broken up once an administration that's focused on these things is in power.
dragonwriter 9y ago
> The article does not make it clear if Google will allow Amazon to list products on an even playing field with those of the B&M retailers they mention. Sure, if Amazon wants to become a retailer paying a cut to Google's marketplace, vastly increasing it's appeal to customers (and thereby, other sellers) and reinforcing Google's marketplace's competitive position against Amazon's marketplace for where people go to shop, Google would jump for joy. They’d probably even cut Amazon a discount, at least initially. Of course, there's zero chance of Amazon choosing to do this. A retailer with an also-ran marketplace like Walmart doing it makes sense; the dominant marketplace doing it makes no sense at all.
tracker1 9y ago
I'm pretty sure Google will take Amazon's money if they wanted to go through integrating the google shared cart/checkout and give a cut to Google. Amazon would never let this happen though.

ocdtrekkie 9y ago

I suspect this will not be "we won't allow Amazon to list", but "we've specifically designed this to be incredibly unappealing for Amazon to list". Given the mentioned notions of integrating Google with cart and payment operations, this probably won't be too hard for them to accomplish. Google's smart enough to know not to explicitly block a competitor, they just make it impossible for the competitor to participate. (For instance, requiring Play Books be installed to get the Play Store guarantees Amazon can't ever sign up to get Google Apps on the Kindle.)

philipodonnell 9y ago
> Google's smart enough to know not to explicitly block a competitor, they just make it impossible for the competitor to participate. This will be an interesting legal issue when it inevitably gets into the courts. A judge will want to know from Amazon what product features prevent it from participating in Google's product and then will look to see why Google has that feature in place. If its clear its only there to keep Amazon from participating, that can be found to be the same as explicitly blocking them. If its structural however, such as an integrated shopping cart, that's much harder to argue is targeting Amazon so much as retailers that don't want to integrate carts. It still feels an awful lot like using an effective monopoly in one space (search) to try to create one in another space (buy).
dragonwriter 9y ago
> Google's smart enough to know not to explicitly block a competitor, they just make it impossible for the competitor to participate. (For instance, requiring Play Books be installed to get the Play Store guarantees Amazon can't ever sign up to get Google Apps on the Kindle.) They could, as Barnes and Noble proved when they went full Google Android from their forked version with the Nook; they won't want to for the same reason B&N didn't want to until it had proven it couldn't get anywhere with it's forked version, since it would be opening up Amazon's walled garden and letting Google's competing market in. Similarly with cart/payment integration: those don't make it impossible for Amazon to integrate. They just make it undesirable for Amazon since that's Amazon's central value proposition to third-party vendors, and Amazon has no desire to strengthen the appeal of any other platform that offers that for customers and, thereby, other vendors. Amazon isn't going to stay off because they are blocked (whether directly or indirectly), they are going to stay off because they need it to fail, because it is a replacement for Amazon's already-dominant marketplace, and any gains it makes with consumers and third-party vendors are at Amazon's expense.

jacksmith21006 9y ago

Sure Google will not prohibit Amazon. But they should consider doing so unless Amazon lifts the ban on ALL companies from being allowed to sell certain Google products on their market place. It is fine if Amazon does not want to sell but banning everyone else is crossing a line, IMO.

sathackr 9y ago

Amazon is refusing to list Google products on its site. How is it any different if Google refuses to list Amazon products on its search engine?

philipodonnell 9y ago
They are both pretty damn anti-competitive. I expect they will be penalized or broken up once an administration that's focused on these things is in power.

dragonwriter 9y ago

> The article does not make it clear if Google will allow Amazon to list products on an even playing field with those of the B&M retailers they mention. Sure, if Amazon wants to become a retailer paying a cut to Google's marketplace, vastly increasing it's appeal to customers (and thereby, other sellers) and reinforcing Google's marketplace's competitive position against Amazon's marketplace for where people go to shop, Google would jump for joy. They’d probably even cut Amazon a discount, at least initially. Of course, there's zero chance of Amazon choosing to do this. A retailer with an also-ran marketplace like Walmart doing it makes sense; the dominant marketplace doing it makes no sense at all.

tracker1 9y ago

I'm pretty sure Google will take Amazon's money if they wanted to go through integrating the google shared cart/checkout and give a cut to Google. Amazon would never let this happen though.