Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Google's Quest To Conquer the World

Step 1:  Make a Map.

Today, as soon as Google showed off its beta GPS navigator, the stocks of Garmin, TomTom and other companies in that industry fell into the toilet. It's hard to compete with free Google apps, but that's not why they're screwed...

TomTom owns Tele Atlas, who drives the roads of the world in order to make maps, and until recently was a major map provider for Google. Nokia owns the only major competitor, Navteq, who has also provided maps for Google. Look at Google Maps now, though, and you'll see that the entire US bears just one single copyright: Google's.

Street View wasn't just a neat way to get imagery to accompany the data already found in Google Maps. As it happens, it was a way to drive the same roads that were already in Google Maps, tracing them with Google's own road teams, and—through efficiency and brute force—do away with those costly map licenses. Google has mapped the US, and will surely map the rest of the world soon enough.

This is just a timely example of Google's monstrous growth, and the destruction it causes. Any business that trades in data or packages it for public consumption may one day face the same issues. It's not just whether or not to compete with the behemoth, but even whether or not to go into business with it. In either case, there is a chance of being destroyed.
Google entering a business is a good signal that it's time to pack it up and leave, or pray you get bought. As Google continues to conquer every facet of our lives. This blog is even served by Google.

I, for one, welcome our new nerdy overlords.

4 comments:

  1. And you don't see anything worrying about a business getting too big or too powerful? Nothing that might destroy the very capitalism which has created it?

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  2. Oh, you mean like a new government spending program, or a brand new agency?

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  3. Nope. The government A) is a monopoly and B) has already proven itself incompetent and corrupt.

    ReplyDelete