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What will Google offer?

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Re: What will Google offer?

#11

Post by d0m »

hugh3 wrote: post #8
rohanprabhu wrote: post #3

Not another groupon clone please...

Not just another one -- the Groupon clone to end all Groupon clones. And I mean that literally. Once Google enters the game, who else will bother? Either a) Google will lose against Groupon, proving that it's impossible to dislodge Groupon, or b) Google will win against Groupon, in which case you'd be crazy to take on Google David can sometimes beat Goliath, but if King Kong shows up to the fight as well then David s…

Unless you headshot Kong Kong (meaning have a better tool or a better way to win).

Re: What will Google offer?

#12

Post by scottkrager »

hugh3 wrote: post #8
rohanprabhu wrote: post #3

Not another groupon clone please...

Not just another one -- the Groupon clone to end all Groupon clones. And I mean that literally. Once Google enters the game, who else will bother? Either a) Google will lose against Groupon, proving that it's impossible to dislodge Groupon, or b) Google will win against Groupon, in which case you'd be crazy to take on Google David can sometimes beat Goliath, but if King Kong shows up to the fight as well then David s…

Don't forget Living Social. I've seen better and better offers from them this year. Seem to be doing well.

Re: What will Google offer?

#13

Post by thankuz »

hugh3 wrote: post #8
rohanprabhu wrote: post #3

Not another groupon clone please...

Not just another one -- the Groupon clone to end all Groupon clones. And I mean that literally. Once Google enters the game, who else will bother? Either a) Google will lose against Groupon, proving that it's impossible to dislodge Groupon, or b) Google will win against Groupon, in which case you'd be crazy to take on Google David can sometimes beat Goliath, but if King Kong shows up to the fight as well then David s…

But, what happens when David recruits Jane to his side? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2471581

Re: What will Google offer?

#15

Post by ry0ohki »

hugh3 wrote: post #8
rohanprabhu wrote: post #3

Not another groupon clone please...

Not just another one -- the Groupon clone to end all Groupon clones. And I mean that literally. Once Google enters the game, who else will bother? Either a) Google will lose against Groupon, proving that it's impossible to dislodge Groupon, or b) Google will win against Groupon, in which case you'd be crazy to take on Google David can sometimes beat Goliath, but if King Kong shows up to the fight as well then David s…

Maybe if it were Apple these would be the only two options. Unfortunately Google does a lot of "half ass" launches. By that I mean they release a product that is the "Google version" of something else that is out there. But they do no marketing, so unless it's amazing like Gmail or Chrome the most likely option is what happens to most things Google clones:

c) Google launches, and some people use it... but not enough to make a dent in Groupon, but just enough people to justify running the service

Re: What will Google offer?

#16

Post by thecoffman »

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 the way to deliver those results, then cool - go with it - but don't just copy what another company is doing. Personally I feel like they're good at algorithmic and engineering solutions to problems and not good at social - why not stick with what you excel at?

Re: What will Google offer?

#17

Post by thankuz »

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.

Re: What will Google offer?

#18

Post by mtogo »

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.

Re: What will Google offer?

#19

Post by elliottcarlson »

thankuz wrote: post #13
hugh3 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not just another one -- the Groupon clone to end all Groupon clones. And I mean that literally. Once Google enters the game, who else will bother? Either a) Google will lose against Groupon, proving that it's impossible to dislodge Groupon, or b) Google will win against Groupon, in which case you'd be crazy to take on Google David can sometimes beat Goliath, but if King Kong shows up to the fight as well then David s…

But, what happens when David recruits Jane to his side? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2471581

Of course any evidence of that would break any confidentiality agreements that were surely put in place when stepping down from Google.

Re: What will Google offer?

#20

Post by ignifero »

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…

Agreed, but this one seems to be the perfect fit with google places and checkout. It's not great to see a Goliath taking on smaller competitors, but the truth is that Groupon hasn't innovated much since it launched.
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