Consumer: 1, Google: 4556788890

“I guess they made it official today.   Let’s examine what this means:

- Google made $10B in 2006 revenues, 99.9% from search.
- If Google could generate revenues from another revenue stream, it would welcome it.
- Google could not generate meaningful revenues from paid downloads, so it is going completely free.
- By buying YouTube, Doubleclick (not closed yet) and Feedburner, it has already decided what its next billion dollar revenue stream will be: more ads, but in lieu of it all coming from paid search, it will be videos, display/banner/rich media and feeds/emails.

Folks, mark this week as the week where consumers made it official and defeated paid content.  Both the NY Times and Wall Street Journal this week announced or considered making their sites free (or more free).

Part of this, of course, has to do with there not being a viable micropayment system.  But maybe because advertising is shifting so aggressively online is the reason why we don’t have a viable micropayment system, and not the other way around.

This is why all of those projections about the future of paid content are, for lack of better words, full of it.”

Via Hip Mojo Via Ashkan Karbasfroos

Well the gargantuan’s from Mountain View are creating a shake up in yet another industry sector. Google wants to participate in the FCC 700mhz wifi spectrum auction. They are ponying up the minimum reserve bid of $4.6bil. “Google has also been pressing the FCC to reserve a portion of that spectrum to be used primarily, or exclusively, for broadband communications. The Internet giant wants “open access” rules, fearing that without them, only a few powerful companies, such as telecommunications and cable providers, will become the permanent guardians of the airwaves.”

I really find all of this kind of ironic and hypocritical of Google. They talk about “Open Access” for this truly powerful spectrum, this could be a huge industry changing auction for a lot of companies and Google of all companies is trying to put the face on of “Do no evil”, “Let it be unregulated”. I guess Mr Schmidt, Mr Brin and Mr.Page have never used Google Adwords, no control at all….

From my point of view this is just another one of Googles jedi mind tricks to get everyone to believe that if they win the auction they wont try to control every aspect of it…….. The GOOG better reach deep deep down into that war chest of loot because I guarantee $4.6 billion wont hang long with some of these Google proclaimed “Powerful Companies”. If GOOG wins I hope they will finally muster up the sauce to split 3 to 1 its driving me nuts….

The Geek -