Google Will Bid In The 700Mhz Auction
Google announced today that they will be bidding in the 700mhz auction! For real.
"We believe it's important to put our money where our principles are," said Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO, Google. "Consumers deserve more competition and innovation than they have in today's wireless world. No matter which bidder ultimately prevails, the real winners of this auction are American consumers who likely will see more choices than ever before in how they access the Internet."Will they win? Who knows. Anything that shakes up the wireless industry is welcome as far as we're concerned. Google Will Apply to Participate in FCC Spectrum Auction [Google]
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Comments:
First, 700 MHz. Tomorow, the world!
And the Google-opoly strikes again...
Why don't you go put some more servers in China...
If Google does provide wireless service I won't use it. I'm to the point with their "products" that I avoid anything Google.
As far as I know--and I may not know much--Google has done nothing but improve my online life.
I don't mind their products - I just wouldn't pay for anything Google.
They're getting so late-90s-Microsoft monopolistic that I'm starting to worry about Big Google Brother.
And I have no idea how their stock price can maintain a PE ~50.
@Skiffer: I'll take Google over Microsoft any day. I'm just worried they'll follow through with having ads before each call to make the plans cheaper. I think that business model would fail horribly. But if they come out with Linux-based devices that rival whats out there now, I'm in.
@Skiffer: Monopolistic? When's the last time you HAD to use a Google product to browse the internet? Or, more broadly, can you point to any sort of anti-competitive behavior on Google's part that might run afoul of antitrust regulations?
And how does "I make wildly successful computer software products (in a market with hundreds of competitors) and now I'm also developing cell phone technology (in a market with dozens of mainstream competitors)" have anything to do with a monopoly?
I just wish their word processor was a viable alternative to Microsoft Word. If they could pull that off and make it FREE, we'd have a winner.
@SpiderJerusalem: Seconded.
If I could use an iPhone on a Google cell network, that'd be a match made in heaven.
@ElizabethD: This initiative has been nothing but a disappointment, and don't get me started on the carbon footprint of this service.
@Beerad: Consolidating online advertising, controlling search results, forays into desktop software for further control, wanting to catalog all books, soon cellphones and internet access (hello, vertical monopoly), putting servers in china to help censor search results, handing over private data to China's state department for use in prosecuting political prisoners....
I didn't say they were there yet, I said they were "getting" there - and it sure looks like they're off to a great start.
I do like their products, and I use them...I think it's just a good idea to approach them with a grain of salt
I really like Google. Not so much for what they do, but what they do to Microsoft. Beyond making them very nervous, it puts them in a position of straying from their vary marginal (but highly profitable) software. Me too, me too! is the new catchphrase at Microsoft, just because Google does, so will we.
Problem is, Microsoft sucks at everything they do
@Skiffer: Seems to me that all of your examples fit into their vision of "organizing the world's information." Maybe that gives them more power to do something bad but I don't think they've done anything bad yet.
More importantly, they're not stopping anyone else from scanning books, maps, etc. all into one system.
Google will be an integral part of the robot-communism revolution that will occur naturally as technology makes labor and production costs decrease towards zero. The ads will go away then.
it would cool if you could use any of the 4 carriers' phones on google's network. I hope this scares the other carriers into relaxing their BS policies on locking their phones
@boberto: Microsoft sucks, despite the much needed kick in the behind from Google, because it still doesn't get it. It's not about adding as many features as possible or reinventing the wheel or adding a lot of stickers to the product packaging, but about improving the user experience.
I mean, they put out three different tiers of Vista aimed at different markets for different uses, and still rolled them out under the same marketing umbrella, and one of Vista's signature features is a more-or-less superfluous eye candy. They clearly don't understand a thing about user experience.
@rolla:
I don't think that would do it. If anything, it would make them more adamant about locking them.
Oh hell yes!