The big news today is clearly Google’s move into selling video (read: an entirely new revenue stream and a very disruptive market force for cable, on demand, DirecTV, etc) and its more aggressive focus on becoming a desktop software distributor (with Pack).
I’ll have more to say on this, but I’ll have to be content with taking a “second day” approach to the story. Why? I’m under embargo. I spoke with Google about this stuff earlier in the week, and agreed to not divulge the contents of our conversation until Google lifted its embargo (in this case, it’s when Page speaks today). This practice of embargo is fine with me, nearly every tech commpany does it. And I always honor them, though I have a policy of writing about things if they break early, as this news did.
But because our conversation had more details than have hit the press, I’m going to wait to post. It’s Friday in any case, and who knows what else might come up?
I am at times hesitant to post here, as I am in many ways not a techie and I know very little of the various tech or search engine terms. But I am a fan, and like John’s style.
Anyhow, my thoughts are that this is a very big thing, I think. We are seeing search engines and media outlets merging — or at least teaming up. Do the companies they team with – Time/Warner, CBS, what-have-you – then influence the kinds of info one gets on searches? I hope not, and of course they say not. But partnerships have ways of finding all kinds of means to support one another’s businesses.
How about a non-profit search engine that just does searches, and is independent of deals with other media outlets? It may be what we need eventually. .
why am i feeling underwhelmed by these announcements? a software bundle with nothing new and killer and a video store? thats it thats all?
yawn…
I think the point about selling videos is that the GOOG is selling something.
YHOO sells a bunch of stuff–GOOG has tried to support (nearly) everything with an advertising model.