The Friend Thing: Google Fail!

The Wall Street Journal reports that former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has admitted that Google missed "the friend thing".  Well, that's a shocker.  Really, Eric?

Not only did Google miss the rise of Facebook, it has a track record of mangling - or at best "sub-optimizing" - initiatives.  One of my favorite examples?  Dodgeball.com.  This service, co-founded by Dennis Crowley of foursquare fame, was an innovative location-based social software service for mobile devices.

Google saw the promise of it, acquired it, and managed it so well that Crowley left two years later after what he called an "incredibly frustrating" experience.  Google shut the service down in early 2009.  Crowley has since grown his self-proclaimed "sequel to the 'dodgeball' project" - foursquare.com - into a social location-based powerhouse with millions of unique users and enviable growth.

Think the Dodgeball example is an isolated one?  Ever hear of Google Latitude?  How about Google Buzz?  Even if you've heard of them, are either of them any more relevant today for you than MySpace, the one-time king of social media services?

Like many mature businesses, Google is grappling with change and the challenge of perpetuating its success.  What should it do as the sizzle of its core area of activity cools?  And, like many mature businesses, Google is struggling as it grasps for the great "what next?"

Fortunately, the firm has a very solid, very large, very profitable base business.  It's still riding high, but it's looking sluggish.  Having missed "the friend thing", will it be able to spot or take advantage of or even come up with "the next thing"?  Or, will Google end up like another tech behemoth, Microsoft, admired for its business success while mocked for its apparent lack of innovation?

And in this Corner... Google Chrome!

It's time for the the Rumble in the Operating System Jungle to begin. With the impending first launch of the Chrome OS from Google, Microsoft and its Windows may face the stiffest competition they've had in a long, long time.

Let's face it, Google is both formidable and ambitious. This first effort with the Chrome OS is likely to problematic, disappointing in some ways, and limited in initial impact. What I'm looking to assess is how much did Google get right from the git-go. This initial launch is just the first round of what could turn out to be an epic 15-round battle between two true heavyweights.

Apple Tablet: Kindle Killer?

Back in August, I mentioned the rumor of a new Apple tablet. The rumor keeps gaining steam, to the point that it's a pretty sure bet the product will be in-market in 2010. The latest plot twist? A subtle and likely profound change in Apple's App Store policy to enable free iPhone apps to sell added content from within the app.

Until now, apps were either free or paid. The new policy allows, say, a publisher to provide a free version of its content, with integrated options to access premium, pay-to-access content or utility. This model has performed well online for a variety of services... LinkedIn comes to mind as a good example.

The idea of in-app commerce for the iPhone, though, was until now only kosher to the Apple powers on high if the app charged up-front. Under the new rules, though, content providers can give away the app and sell stuff later from within it. This free-now-pay-later model could, and will, be applied by newspapers looking for new revenue streams. It might also be an avenue for monetization and consumption of other content, too.

One new idea? How about a digital video service? Blog commentary, reviews, entertainment news & gossip, short clips, and even some short or older feature length films could be available free, with click thru to rental or purchase of recent releases or premium content. The same could be done for music.

To add some spice to the ideation, what about using crowd-sourcing and user feedback to determine prices in an open commodity exchange valuing the particular content? This idea could provide impetus to try stuff early, when cheap. Heck, the best of the bunch might even enjoy rapid word of mouth awareness builds as folks clue in friends to great and still inexpensive films and tunes.

Which brings us to the subject of the Kindle. Anybody out there, even the most die-hard Kindlefreak, imagine that it can enable the kind of interactive experience a scaled up, iPhone-on-steroids Apple tablet could? Didn't think so. The two devices will remain distinct, in price and in functionality. Apple's new thing will probably out-do the Kindle at its own game - books, magazines, newspapers - but users will pay three times the price to get the experience. For folks who simply want to read, Kindles might be hunky-dory fine. But, for more fun, more sizzle, more pizzazz, Apple will likely entice a good number of potential Kindle customers to trade up.

Time will tell how this plays out. Microsoft is working on new tablet products, too. And, of course, the publishers of the world are all hoping someone creates a viable hardware foundation for consumption of their content... Preferably before the newspapers of the world are all bankrupt!

It's Official: Google taking on Winple

With the news today that Google's chief is relinquishing his seat on the Apple board, it's officially time to acknowledge Google aspires to all (or nearly all) that is Windows plus Apple. The big getting bigger...