What’s Google Inc. up to in mobile? You might as well ask what Rupert Murdoch is doing in media.
Because the answer is, just about everything.
The Internet colossus first dipped its toe in the mobile waters in 2000 with a search service for Web-enabled phones, and the company has moved aggressively into the space ever since. Google continues to offer the venerable text message search service that launched three years ago, and the Mountain View, Calif.-based developer has continued to churn out a variety of applications and services.
There’s a voice-activated search offering (1-800-GOOG-411), a mobile extension of its photo-viewing application (Picasa) and wireless versions of its popular mapping, e-mail and calendar services. Bloggers can use Google to post updates from their phones, and the company recently created a stripped-down version of its YouTube offering for wireless users. Oh, and Google has filed an application to patent a “computer-implemented method of effectuating a payment” when a mobile shopper sends a text message to a computer.
Meanwhile, the digital Goliath has forged relationships with some of the biggest players in mobile. Motorola Inc. has agreed to build handsets with a Google-branded hard key that launches a wireless Web session, using Google’s site as a home page. LG Electronics Co. Ltd. earlier this year agreed to install the company’s software on millions of phones, and T-Mobile operators across Europe use Google to power the popular “web’n’walk” services.
And the company has expanded its presence in recent weeks by bringing its two flagship advertising businesses to wireless. Google in September notified its vast network of AdWords customers that every one of their paid links would be included in search results accessed by wireless devices. That announcement was followed by an expansion of AdSense, allowing publishers with mobile-friendly sites to accept ads on their pages.
No growth without drama
Predictably, much of the company’s activity has been surrounded by controversy. The latest rhubarb came from pure-play mobile marketers who claimed the AdWords effort fails to deliver ads targeted directly at mobile users, and that Google’s transcoding technology forces publishers to relinquish control of how their pages appear on wireless devices.
“I’m not sure everyone appreciates just how sub-optimal a transcoded experience can be,” AdMob founder and CEO posted on his company’s blog. “Transcoding technology works well if you are simply looking for a particular piece of information on a site and you need to get access to it while you are on your phone. It is not, however, the way that you would want to present your company to a potential customer if you were given the choice.”
Next wireless move
But Google’s next moves-which are the subject of considerable speculation-will likely be even more contentious. A Google MVNO seems unlikely, given the casualty rate for such efforts in the U.S. market. And while a Google-branded phone is still a possibility, a more likely scenario is a play centered on the company’s software. The New York Times recently reported the company is developing a mobile operating system designed to compete with Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile and Nokia Corp.’s Symbian platform.
The looming question, though, is whether Google plans to participate in the upcoming Federal Communications Commission auction of 700 MHz spectrum. The developer lobbied publicly for the FCC to adopt a host of new rules for the auction, slated for January, and had vowed to participate if the commission embraced Google’s entire agenda. While that didn’t happen-the FCC opted not to require the winning bidder to allow others to offer service on the network-enough of Google’s proposals were adopted to keep the company interested.
As usual, Google has yet to tip its hand, leading to all sorts of speculation about how it would try to monetize the spectrum. But the company’s lobbying effort has already generated tremors in the wireless world, prompting Verizon Wireless to take the FCC to court over the new open-access rules. That ongoing battle could look like a petty skirmish if Google brings its full weight to bear in mobile.
“We are still carefully analyzing whether and how we might participate in the upcoming auction,” Google attorney Richard Whitt posted on the company’s public policy blog earlier this month. “However, if we do end up bidding and ultimately win the spectrum in question, we would ensure that consumers have the right to decide which devices and applications they want to use on our networks. . We think the Internet offers the optimal model for what serves the interests of all consumers. To that end, we hope the FCC sticks to its guns as it tries to introduce the open ethos of the ‘Net to a small segment of the closed wireless world.”
