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What will Google offer?

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Re: What will Google offer?

#21

Post by killedbydeath »

mtogo wrote: post #18
thecoffman wrote: post #16

Since the failure of Wave, does it seem to anyone else the Google has been copying rather than innovating nowadays? Buzz was a copy of Twitter, this is a copy of Groupon, +1 is a copy of Facebook's like button etc... I'd like to see more innovation and less parroting coming out of them. I don't want my search results to be social - I want them to be relevant and spam free. If they really feel like going "social" is t…

Google has always copied and almost never innovated. They've done so well because they can build better technical applications than their competitors (e.g. Gmail). That strategy doesn't work with social, though. They can rip off an idea and build a more technically sound product, but social needs more than just a good product, and google can't deliver.

Gmail as a product was innovative in many ways (large storage, convenient search). It was much better than competitors, I switched immediately. Not sure if the same can be said about Google Offers.

Re: What will Google offer?

#22

Post by bakhlawa »

thankuz wrote: post #17
thecoffman wrote: post #16

Since the failure of Wave, does it seem to anyone else the Google has been copying rather than innovating nowadays? Buzz was a copy of Twitter, this is a copy of Groupon, +1 is a copy of Facebook's like button etc... I'd like to see more innovation and less parroting coming out of them. I don't want my search results to be social - I want them to be relevant and spam free. If they really feel like going "social" is t…

I think Instant Search was pretty innovative, but one could probably say that it came about due to Twitter and real-time.

I hope this is a joke. Instant Search is a UX nightmare with the screen changing / morphing with every keystroke. Now if you meant Google Suggest, I'd have no argument, but on any new browser install, one of the first items is to switch Instant Search off.

Re: What will Google offer?

#24

Post by ameyamk »

question is, is google willing to put salespeople, and build organization which is by nature very 'high touch' business? Putting a shiny offers page is one thing, and following up with the daily deal strategy is another...

Re: What will Google offer?

#26

Post by TillE »

thecoffman wrote: post #16

Since the failure of Wave, does it seem to anyone else the Google has been copying rather than innovating nowadays? Buzz was a copy of Twitter, this is a copy of Groupon, +1 is a copy of Facebook's like button etc... I'd like to see more innovation and less parroting coming out of them. I don't want my search results to be social - I want them to be relevant and spam free. If they really feel like going "social" is t…

I miss Wave. It was a wonderful idea, it just never really got off the ground. It could've been the next-generation federated communication platform, usable for just about any purpose imaginable. And they just pulled the plug while the official Wave client was floundering a bit.

Hopefully the leadership shakeup at Google will turn things around.

Re: What will Google offer?

#27

Post by shin_lao »

thecoffman wrote: post #16

Since the failure of Wave, does it seem to anyone else the Google has been copying rather than innovating nowadays? Buzz was a copy of Twitter, this is a copy of Groupon, +1 is a copy of Facebook's like button etc... I'd like to see more innovation and less parroting coming out of them. I don't want my search results to be social - I want them to be relevant and spam free. If they really feel like going "social" is t…

Innovating is not inventing. Innovating, implies copying.

Re: What will Google offer?

#28

Post by jonknee »

killedbydeath wrote: post #21
mtogo wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has always copied and almost never innovated. They've done so well because they can build better technical applications than their competitors (e.g. Gmail). That strategy doesn't work with social, though. They can rip off an idea and build a more technically sound product, but social needs more than just a good product, and google can't deliver.

Gmail as a product was innovative in many ways (large storage, convenient search). It was much better than competitors, I switched immediately. Not sure if the same can be said about Google Offers.

Have you used Google Offers yet? With the big map they have as the background of the teaser it seems like it could be quite different from Groupon. They have mapping software built into a couple hundred million smartphones... Could be a nice differentiating factor. Not to mention an established relationship with millions of businesses through AdWords.

Re: What will Google offer?

#29

Post by spontaneus »

It's fine that Google is late in to group buying, but the problem is they aren't going to be able to do it any better than Groupon or Living Social so people aren't going to care. As other said, Google killed it with Gmail and it was far better than any other mail service, but how much better can they make 50% off coupons?

Re: What will Google offer?

#30

Post by klous »

ameyamk wrote: post #24

question is, is google willing to put salespeople, and build organization which is by nature very 'high touch' business? Putting a shiny offers page is one thing, and following up with the daily deal strategy is another...

They already have a small army of salespeople pushing their ad network to SMB. Extending their salespeople's product line to include 'offers' wouldn't be a huge stretch.
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