> [..] they are all but begging Google to compete head-to-head Except for the part where Groupon provides an amount of hand-holding for businesses, that G has

> [..] they are all but begging Google to compete head-to-head Except for the part where Groupon provides an amount of hand-holding for businesses, that G has neither history, nor reputation of doing. Historically relevant datapoints: G has both a buying service[1], and an affiliate network[2], neither of which seems anything remotely close to the success that Groupon is enjoying already. [1] http://www.google.com/prdhp?hl=en&tab=wf#t:0 http://www.google.com/prdhp?hl=en&tab=wf#t:0 [2] http://www.google.com/ads/affiliatenetwork/ http://www.google.com/ads/affiliatenetwork/