4 ms·

Companies like Expedia worry that the acquisition could lead Google to present a matrix of actual fares on its search results page How is that not consumer pos

by yanw 16y ago

Companies like Expedia worry that the acquisition could lead Google to present a matrix of actual fares on its search results page How is that not consumer positive?

bobf 16y ago
That seems to be the crux of the issue. Consumer positive is apparently not in Expedia/Travelocity's best interests. Dredging up old Stanford-days quotes of Google's founders seems a bit disingenuous.
- alecco 16y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre_(computer_system)#Controversy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre_(computer_system)#Controv...
mkramlich 16y ago
To the extent it's not consumer positive it's like Windows and IE, vs Netscape, et al. Windows and Word, vs other word processors, etc. By Google integrating and promoting their own information service at the top of search results it's very similar to Microsoft bundling, promoting and defaulting to their own in-house equivalents to what would otherwise be third-party apps sold by separate businesses. Is that a net win for consumers? Not sure. It's both good and bad. But it's definitely a chilling effect for those other vendors -- assuming they don't get a juicy buyout or licensing deal in order to be adapted into the very thing they would otherwise fear. In this case, an integrated travel search promoted by Google.
- ceejayoz 16y ago
  > By Google integrating and promoting their own information service at the top of search results it's very similar to Microsoft bundling, promoting and defaulting to their own in-house equivalents to what would otherwise be third-party apps sold by separate businesses. Sort of, but it's as if Microsoft is still stuck on the IE3 release and grumping about Mozilla Firefox 4 being better. The Expedia quote basically says "dear God, Google might actually make a usable fare finder instead of presenting users with a useless interface designed to make it hard to find the actual low fares we promote!"
- exit 16y ago
  do reference librarians have an anticompetitive practices case against google?
wmf 16y ago
It would be consumer positive if Google shows the optimal flights (according to the user's criteria) and the lowest fares. If Google shows suboptimal results, it's likely that people will just take those rather than go to another site that provides better results.

by yanw 16y ago

Companies like Expedia worry that the acquisition could lead Google to present a matrix of actual fares on its search results page How is that not consumer positive?

bobf 16y ago

That seems to be the crux of the issue. Consumer positive is apparently not in Expedia/Travelocity's best interests. Dredging up old Stanford-days quotes of Google's founders seems a bit disingenuous.

alecco 16y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre_(computer_system)#Controversy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre_(computer_system)#Controv...

mkramlich 16y ago

To the extent it's not consumer positive it's like Windows and IE, vs Netscape, et al. Windows and Word, vs other word processors, etc. By Google integrating and promoting their own information service at the top of search results it's very similar to Microsoft bundling, promoting and defaulting to their own in-house equivalents to what would otherwise be third-party apps sold by separate businesses. Is that a net win for consumers? Not sure. It's both good and bad. But it's definitely a chilling effect for those other vendors -- assuming they don't get a juicy buyout or licensing deal in order to be adapted into the very thing they would otherwise fear. In this case, an integrated travel search promoted by Google.

ceejayoz 16y ago
> By Google integrating and promoting their own information service at the top of search results it's very similar to Microsoft bundling, promoting and defaulting to their own in-house equivalents to what would otherwise be third-party apps sold by separate businesses. Sort of, but it's as if Microsoft is still stuck on the IE3 release and grumping about Mozilla Firefox 4 being better. The Expedia quote basically says "dear God, Google might actually make a usable fare finder instead of presenting users with a useless interface designed to make it hard to find the actual low fares we promote!"
exit 16y ago
do reference librarians have an anticompetitive practices case against google?

wmf 16y ago

It would be consumer positive if Google shows the optimal flights (according to the user's criteria) and the lowest fares. If Google shows suboptimal results, it's likely that people will just take those rather than go to another site that provides better results.