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I don't understand why you assume their only or main reason to develop Google Glass and self-driving cars is ads. Their original product was a search engine. T

I don't understand why you assume their only or main reason to develop Google Glass and self-driving cars is ads. Their original product was a search engine. Their breakthrough money-making product was ads, indeed, and they've focused their business model on that, but I contest that it's in their DNA. Do you really think the only value they could derive out of self-driving cars is for more targeted ads?

joelrunyon 13y ago
Google is an advertising company. Everything they do is an attempt to protect their advertising revenue in the search vertical. Read this article on all of google's besides search being a "moat." http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/25/search-googles-castle-moat/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/25/search-googles-castle-moat/
- amaks 13y ago
  This might be a case few years ago, but google is clearly trying to diversify its business with the high speed internet, self-driving cars, robotics. It's hard to justify these investments for the sake of ads.
  - joelrunyon 13y ago
    High Speed Internet --> To have more data & serve you more ads throughout your whole internet experience (not just google). Cars --> Oh, have more time while you're not driving? Spend it on your tablet / computer / device & see more ads. Robotics --> Time freed up around the house? Spend more time online. Need to have your robot run errands for you? Approve these coupon offers at nearby grocery stores & have your robot pick them up. Glass --> Like the outfit that person is wearing? Here's a coupon to buy it right now. Google is an ad company. They have cool tech - but they it comes back to ads.
    - eonil 13y ago
      I had a big expectation on Boston Dynamics, but not anymore because Google purchased them.
    - krisoft 13y ago
      About self driving cars: I just want to know if you gave serious consideration to the idea of licensing the technology, and making piles of cash that way? If you did, then I assume you concluded that the advertisement possibility is an even bigger revenue source? Or you don't think that, but you believe that google has a company wide blind spot for that solution? I don't want to put words in your mouth, just want to understand deeper your reasoning. So, could you please elaborate on why do you think self driving cars will be monetized through ads?
      - joelrunyon 13y ago
        They invested 258 million into Uber[1]. I doubt Google . Google's mission is to "organize the world's information." Given that's their MO, once they've figured out the textual information of the web, they're moving to mapping the world & taking typically "offline" data - online. With a bunch of driverless cars roaming the streets - they could be collecting all sorts of contextual data on people / locations / businesses that I imagine many, many people would be willing to pay for. They might not be ads in the same way you think about typical "search" ads, but they're still ads nonetheless. Google doesn't tend to like to build actual "paid" services. Rather they create free services that draw in people / eyeballs & use that information to push their index of information even further. http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/22/google-ventures-puts-258m-into-uber-its-largest-deal-ever/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/22/google-ventures-puts-258m-i...
        gfodor 13y ago
        Or, you know, they can just license the technology to literally every automotive company in the world, for tens (hundreds?) of billions of dollars of recurring annual revenue. This is technology that is only possible through their insane lead in all the work on Google Street View. It will take years or decades for people to catch up. Then again, there is only one Google, so perhaps nobody ever will. They have all the PhDs and the patents. They have all the ground-level data about every nook and cranny on American roadways and beyond, and a system in place that keeps this up-to-date. They have a huge economic moat on this. Who else can do this? It's a $1t+ projected future cash flow imho. You think they really give a shit about the secondary increase in advertising revenue from people surfing their web in the car, enough to give the golden goose away for free? What you say sounds clever but really it's pretty simple: Google will have a product that everyone wants, a product that will provide a massive ROI even at a high price, and nobody else will be able to duplicate it for a very long time, if ever. No need for higher dimensional chess here. If they pull it off it will eclipse anything you or I have lived through in terms of upside for a single company.
crag 13y ago
"I don't understand why you assume their only or main reason to develop Google Glass and self-driving cars is ads." Because everything Google does is for serving ads. Every tech that Google releases is directly or in-directly related to ad revenue. Either serve ads or collect data to sell to advertisers. Nothing wrong with this. Many companies rely on ad revenue (Facebook or example). But I do know Google is desperately searching for other sources of revenue. It's just that they are addicted to ads. And social media (for ads). Which, IMHO is killing the company. Their total focus on Google + (and other social apps) is sucking the life out of other interesting projects; that might yield results that aren't dependent on ad revenue. But it's hard to think out-side the box. Sad.
- Confusion 13y ago
  So your answer to the question "Why do you assume .. ads?" is "because everything .. ads". How do you not recognize that as begging the question? And then a few sentences later you say "Google is desperately searching for other sources of revenue", which is utterly inconsistent with "because everything .. ads". Your comment does not make any sense at all.
  - crag 13y ago
    My point is that Google is searching in vain. It's running around in circles cause it keeps coming back to ads. Confusing? So is Google. Know anyone who works there? Ask. Many there are just as confused. And that's Google's problem.

joelrunyon 13y ago

Google is an advertising company. Everything they do is an attempt to protect their advertising revenue in the search vertical. Read this article on all of google's besides search being a "moat." http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/25/search-googles-castle-moat/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/25/search-googles-castle-moat/

amaks 13y ago
This might be a case few years ago, but google is clearly trying to diversify its business with the high speed internet, self-driving cars, robotics. It's hard to justify these investments for the sake of ads.
- joelrunyon 13y ago
  High Speed Internet --> To have more data & serve you more ads throughout your whole internet experience (not just google). Cars --> Oh, have more time while you're not driving? Spend it on your tablet / computer / device & see more ads. Robotics --> Time freed up around the house? Spend more time online. Need to have your robot run errands for you? Approve these coupon offers at nearby grocery stores & have your robot pick them up. Glass --> Like the outfit that person is wearing? Here's a coupon to buy it right now. Google is an ad company. They have cool tech - but they it comes back to ads.
  - eonil 13y ago
    I had a big expectation on Boston Dynamics, but not anymore because Google purchased them.
  - krisoft 13y ago
    About self driving cars: I just want to know if you gave serious consideration to the idea of licensing the technology, and making piles of cash that way? If you did, then I assume you concluded that the advertisement possibility is an even bigger revenue source? Or you don't think that, but you believe that google has a company wide blind spot for that solution? I don't want to put words in your mouth, just want to understand deeper your reasoning. So, could you please elaborate on why do you think self driving cars will be monetized through ads?
    - joelrunyon 13y ago
      They invested 258 million into Uber[1]. I doubt Google . Google's mission is to "organize the world's information." Given that's their MO, once they've figured out the textual information of the web, they're moving to mapping the world & taking typically "offline" data - online. With a bunch of driverless cars roaming the streets - they could be collecting all sorts of contextual data on people / locations / businesses that I imagine many, many people would be willing to pay for. They might not be ads in the same way you think about typical "search" ads, but they're still ads nonetheless. Google doesn't tend to like to build actual "paid" services. Rather they create free services that draw in people / eyeballs & use that information to push their index of information even further. http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/22/google-ventures-puts-258m-into-uber-its-largest-deal-ever/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/22/google-ventures-puts-258m-i...
      - gfodor 13y ago
        Or, you know, they can just license the technology to literally every automotive company in the world, for tens (hundreds?) of billions of dollars of recurring annual revenue. This is technology that is only possible through their insane lead in all the work on Google Street View. It will take years or decades for people to catch up. Then again, there is only one Google, so perhaps nobody ever will. They have all the PhDs and the patents. They have all the ground-level data about every nook and cranny on American roadways and beyond, and a system in place that keeps this up-to-date. They have a huge economic moat on this. Who else can do this? It's a $1t+ projected future cash flow imho. You think they really give a shit about the secondary increase in advertising revenue from people surfing their web in the car, enough to give the golden goose away for free? What you say sounds clever but really it's pretty simple: Google will have a product that everyone wants, a product that will provide a massive ROI even at a high price, and nobody else will be able to duplicate it for a very long time, if ever. No need for higher dimensional chess here. If they pull it off it will eclipse anything you or I have lived through in terms of upside for a single company.

crag 13y ago

"I don't understand why you assume their only or main reason to develop Google Glass and self-driving cars is ads." Because everything Google does is for serving ads. Every tech that Google releases is directly or in-directly related to ad revenue. Either serve ads or collect data to sell to advertisers. Nothing wrong with this. Many companies rely on ad revenue (Facebook or example). But I do know Google is desperately searching for other sources of revenue. It's just that they are addicted to ads. And social media (for ads). Which, IMHO is killing the company. Their total focus on Google + (and other social apps) is sucking the life out of other interesting projects; that might yield results that aren't dependent on ad revenue. But it's hard to think out-side the box. Sad.

Confusion 13y ago
So your answer to the question "Why do you assume .. ads?" is "because everything .. ads". How do you not recognize that as begging the question? And then a few sentences later you say "Google is desperately searching for other sources of revenue", which is utterly inconsistent with "because everything .. ads". Your comment does not make any sense at all.
- crag 13y ago
  My point is that Google is searching in vain. It's running around in circles cause it keeps coming back to ads. Confusing? So is Google. Know anyone who works there? Ask. Many there are just as confused. And that's Google's problem.