Reuters did publish an article about google's attempt to get their feet deeper into social media.
A lot of experts are speculating that google will come in fall with google.me
It seems almost that we are either painted in google colors or an absolute Apple fan. We don't hear anything anymore about Microsoft in terms of computer, services or mobile phones. Microsoft seems right now be more concentrated on business solutions or XBox and games (btw the Halo release last Tuesday gave us the highest online first person shooter playing ever in the history and people waited 4 hours in line for the midnight release).
If somebody is a google fan, than this person would have android phone, Gmail email account, is using google docs, surfs only with Chrome and does not know any other search engine than googol.com (sorry for the spelling error but googol is actually the right spelling :)).
I am an Apple user and have to admit that at home all my devices are from Apple, I surf the internet with Safari, uses my mobile me for email and do all my writing in pages, numbers or keynote.
Both companies are offering more services but both are not yet good in social. The only difference is that google is reaching 65% of all internet users and apple only 12%.
Google did miss the right time to invest into social and is now trying to run behind the train.
Google is trying to play the big card by saying that Facebook has to open the DB for google search if FB does not want to lose ground. E. Schmidt believes google can get FB data from other sources and it would be wise for Facebook to work with google. For me this is a sign that google believes FB is dangerous for them.
And they better should, if FB gets a market penetration of 65% (I believe right now it is only 29%) then why should we even need google anymore. 10 years ago nobody thought we need just a search page, because portals will be the number one entry point for users. Google showed we were wrong, till now. There is now one big portal called Facebook which is the entry point for most users.
Facebook can eventually replace google for the most part.
The secret of google was their page rank which nobody did before and therefor the search results were much better than competition.
Facebook works with friends, people we know, people we trust. If their search engine would incorporate this methodology then google can lose. More and more companies are using fscebook connect, this gives now FB much more data outside of their user base and still social relevant.
All this combined can give Facebook much more power than google might want.
Reuters:
PARADISE VALLEY, Arizona — Google Inc plans to gradually introduce social-networking features starting this fall, reviving attempts to compete with Facebook after pulling the plug on its stillborn Wave project.
Chief Executive Eric Schmidt told reporters Tuesday the Internet search leader intends to work in "layers" of social networking to its sites, rather than unveil a flashy product. To propel that effort, he intends to sustain its pace of acquisitions.
"We're trying to take Google's core products and add a social component," Schmidt told a select group of reporters at Zeitgeist, a gathering of business partners and high-profile industry figures.
"If you think about it, it's obvious. With your permission, knowing more about who your friends are, we can provide more tailored recommendations. Search quality can get better."
Google has struggled to find the right touch in creating the types of social networking services that have become increasingly hot online.
It declared the demise this year of Wave, a high-profile online communications tool launched last year. And Orkut, its early online social network, has failed to catch on outside of Brazil and India.
Media reports now peg Google as developing a new social networking product — dubbed Google ME — in a bid to take on Facebook, which has more than half a billion users worldwide. Others speculate it might be looking for an acquisition to get into social gaming.
"Everybody has convinced themselves that there's some huge project about to get announced next week. And I can assure you that's not the case," Schmidt said.
Analysts point to recent acquisitions as signs the company is steadily beefing up its social-network capabilities.
The company this year undertook a series of small to mid-sized purchases, including a $182 million deal to take over social networking firm Slide, and a $700 million offer for airline ticketing firm ITA Software Inc.
Schmidt expects the last deal to win regulatory approval. He said the level of scrutiny it has drawn is similar to that for Google's acquisition of Admob, which won a green light.
Analysts have attributed a recent flurry of tech-sector acquisitions to a perception that valuations remain low, a product of a sputtering economy as well as persistent doubts about the strength of the tech sector recovery.
In an exclusive interview with Reuters Tuesday, Schmidt said he did not expect another recession soon, but warned of slow, or even zero, growth over the next few years.
"It's unlikely we'll have a double dip for all the reasons people talked about. A much more likely scenario is slow or no growth for a few years," Schmidt said in the interview.
"High tech is different. High-tech seems to be benefiting from new product cycles, lots of new investments," he added. "So high tech will probably have a different outcome from the average American (consumer)."
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