Hipmunk might be in trouble.
What makes Hipmunk great is their UI. Google is not known for revolutionary UI.
I have a warm fuzzy memory about the first time I saw Google Maps and Suggest, and had that feeling that, "surely this is the future."
Google acquires ITA Software
71–80 of 81 posts
Re: Google acquires ITA Software
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
They could probably spin new features faster than Google. For example, every service I've seen requires a departure date and return date. In my head, I thinking, "I don't know - sometime this summer." I'd like to be able to pick a destination, the number of days, and have it tell me when I should go on vacation to get the cheapest fares.
http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ does that. You can ask for exact dates, but the default is that you give it a date and the number of nights to stay.
...just realized I left out the important part: it searches for something within a month after the date you gave it.
Re: Google acquires ITA Software
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
Given what you and martincmartin are saying, I am left wondering why Google was able to buy ITA for so little. How can such a thing be worth less than a billion dollars?
Because there's a rather finite amount of money spent on air travel which means that the valuation of any one company in that sector will be well within Google's means?
Perhaps. But in that case it's a much smaller market than I imagined. Also relevant is that ITA raised $100M in 2006, so their $700M exit is hardly a home run by VC standards. It doesn't seem to match the astonishingly strong technical and market position you (convincingly) describe.
http://www.itasoftware.com/news-events/press-release.html?id.... Note that the round included Sequoia who are known for caring only about big markets.
Re: Google acquires ITA Software
#74How cool would it be if you could type "flights to somewhere sunny for under $500 in May" How cool would it be to receive suggestions for flights in May with clusters in my social graph as destinations?
I'm working on something like that -- I'm starting with discovering where you can go on your airline miles, but it's all visual. I'm planning on integrating suggestions of low miles tickets where your friends are. I know this isn't quite what you're suggesting, but I'll be getting there :)
I just have a launch page up right now: http://flybymiles.com - but private beta coming next week.
In the meantime check out http://wanderfly.com - they could use a much better recommendation engine, but the content is there (ie: beach for $500)
Re: Google acquires ITA Software
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because there's a rather finite amount of money spent on air travel which means that the valuation of any one company in that sector will be well within Google's means?
Perhaps. But in that case it's a much smaller market than I imagined. Also relevant is that ITA raised $100M in 2006, so their $700M exit is hardly a home run by VC standards. It doesn't seem to match the astonishingly strong technical and market position you (convincingly) describe. http://www.itasoftware.com/news-events/press-release.html?id... . Note that the round included Sequoia who are known for caring only ab…
ITA raised all that money to build a reservation system to replace the old mainframe systems that are fabulously expensive to run. That would have been a market of the kind that required outside investement from a company that was already profitable (I think ITA had more people working on the reservation system than the search), and that a big VC would love to bet on.
From what I hear it worked technically, but failed commercially due to the badly timed recession. It seems like a fair bet that Google's offer wasn't putting a lot of value on the reservation system. Even if it could be made to work, it's not the kind of a business that Google is usually in.
Re: Google acquires ITA Software
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Given what you and martincmartin are saying, I am left wondering why Google was able to buy ITA for so little. How can such a thing be worth less than a billion dollars?
Because there's a rather finite amount of money spent on air travel which means that the valuation of any one company in that sector will be well within Google's means?
The margins in air travel are also slim. Google did a very smart thing here. There business model can support the ITA purchase, not many other businesses could do this. The kicker is they also just hired a lot of talent.
Re: Google acquires ITA Software
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had a business acquaintance get her feelings hurt because I didn't follow her back when she followed me on Twitter. I looked at her feed and she literally had tweeted about her breakfast that morning. I quit Twitter instead so that I wouldn't have to hurt anyone's feelings anymore.
What about just not caring whether you hurt someone's trivial feelings? That is becoming an important feeling in this ever-connected world.
Ugh, that should have said "important skill". Too late to edit now.
Re: Google acquires ITA Software
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
What makes Hipmunk great is their UI. Google is not known for revolutionary UI.
I have a warm fuzzy memory about the first time I saw Google Maps and Suggest, and had that feeling that, "surely this is the future."
Maps was an acquisition. Most every innovative product Google has in the marketplace was an acquisition.
Re: Google acquires ITA Software
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a warm fuzzy memory about the first time I saw Google Maps and Suggest, and had that feeling that, "surely this is the future."
Maps was an acquisition. Most every innovative product Google has in the marketplace was an acquisition.
Not disagreeing, but I thought the Maps web UI came about post acquisition, and that the technology had previously been developed for desktop apps?
Re: Google acquires ITA Software
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
What about just not caring whether you hurt someone's trivial feelings? That is becoming an important feeling in this ever-connected world.
Ugh, that should have said "important skill". Too late to edit now.
I wasn't getting much value out of Twitter anyway (not a judgement on Twitter's value, just on what I was getting out of it), and my business depends a lot on maintaining healthy relationships with lots of people, since we grow primarily by referral. It just made sense to drop Twitter altogether and tell people instead that I don't use it.