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1-800-Google Launches
The Webguy wrote to mention a C|Net article talking about Google's newest toy - Local Voice Search. The service is dirt simple: you call a 1-800 number and, via voice recognition software, say the category of business you're trying to reach. You can also try for a specific name, though the C|Net blogger had some problems with that. The Google Blog has been updated with details as well: "Google Voice Local Search lets you search for local businesses from any phone and for free. If you're in the US, call 1-800-GOOG-411 and say what you want to find. Here are some of the features -You can find a business listing by category. Just say "pizza," for example. You can send the listing details to your mobile phone via SMS. The service is fully automated, so it doesn't rely on human operators. It connects you directly to the business, free of charge."
.... just how does Google plan to make money from this? Sure it takes away business from traditional directory based searches, but I still fail to see how the cash that those services would get end up in Google's pocket. I'm sure that if I'm missing something that /.'ers will point out what that something is.
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
One difference is that in the dot-com era, you saw companies valued billions operating in a market that was worth a fraction of that - in the hope that in the "new economy" there would suddenly be billions of new dollars pouring into all possible sectors of the economy. In contrast, Google is profitable, this service must have been set up with a smallish (50?) number of employees, and the DA 411 market is worth some 8 billion dollars per year - and that is before advertisement is taken into account. So your comparison does not run very deep.
I see it as a way for them to know what people are searching for, just like their google search engine. You'd be surprised to know how much that sort of information can be worth to companies.
I wonder too because most voice recognition software (or at least, text-to-speech software) sucks balls. Technology has a loooong way to go before this stuff actually works half decent. I'm not sure about anyone else but whenever given the choice to punch keys or talk, I always punch the keys because I get fed up with the incorrect text recognition.
There's a few key differences. First, Google is already profitable. Second, Google adds services over time, whereas many of the dot-com rushers tries to do everything at once. Google has the brand recognition and strong history to even the most novice of Internet users required that none of the dot-com guys, even with their tens of millions of marketing dollars, had.
With Google being a public company, they have more incentive to retain services than other service companies. They have far more to lose if they close a service than if, say, Webmail.us folded, since e-mail is all Webmail.us does. That reason alone will force them to keep large, successful services like Gmail alive, even if it is eventually in a reduced form.
Watch out, or you might end up hiring an armed guard by accident ;-)
-- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
Google may see it as an investment in basic search technology - voice recognition might serve to "listen" to YouTube videos for time-sensitive ad-placement (see Google, i'm full of ideas, so hire me! =D ) If thousands of people try it and don't like it, they try to learn why, potentially improve it, or they have one of arguably several ideas that never went anywhere, and may or may not see the light of day again. Few bucks lost, price of research, etc. If it takes off, they stick local ads in it. I doubt this is really very harmful. Also, this is a great way of getting press...lots of computer-phobic people who have "heard" of this "googale" finally get to try it for free...
Right. So Google, like every other company that dominates a particular market, worries about saturating that same market. Even successful companies have to try new things if they want to keep growing. Google has thrown a lot of stuff at wall to see if it sticks, and this is yet another effort to establish an profitable market.
Dyson, can you reveal how you got this information? Did you recognize the setup or something? Or do you have a mole?
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