Couple of Net-things
Don’t think we mentioned the Google and eBay deal that went down earlier this week. It’s an interesting partnership for a few different reasons. The two companies were only just recently being drawn up as rivals, with Google’s Froogle andÂ? Checkout services being in direct competition with eBay and PayPal. eBay did land a deal with Yahoo!,Â? for the American portion of eBay, back in May. That deal obviously wasn’t a Google buster. This newÂ? deal focusses on the International side of eBay, and is said to be something that will move at a slower pace. The problem for eBay is that while they will generate revenue based on their page views, something that had probably been ignored for too long, the impact and benefit of this to them is contingent on the process continuing. Google, on the other hand, can take the information from the partnership and apply it directly to theirÂ? sites and everyÂ? other site they publish on.Â? EBay also increases its reliance on Google and increases the risk of having the rug pulled out from under them. I keep warning people, Google is more like Microsoft and the Dark Side than people think.Â? For eBay, one of the advantages is being able to better utilize Skype and potentially increase the number of users subscribing by adding a useful feature. And it’s amuzing how gTalk is thrown in there. Awe… Check out this post by Marshall Kirkpatrick for more.
While discussing Google, it’s probably worthwhile to weigh in on Eric Schmidt’s new position on the Apple board of directors. It would almost make sense for these two companies to work heavily together based on the the enemy of my enemy is my friend theory alone. But taking this even deeper, Matt Marshall reports:
Both companies share a similar culture. A fierce pride in having talented engineers who know how to do things best, and a coinciding tendency to be excessively secretive — because they think they have all these cool tech projects to hide (which may be true), and this engineering culture then permeates through the whole company.
I personally am not overly fond with either company and find that there’s a certain arrogance in their better-than-Microsoft attitude. Both companies, however, are imortant to the industry as a whole, and regardless of any perceived arrogance, the results for both companies do speak for themselves. Tougher times are ahead for both of these companies.Â? Apple’s iPod line of mp3 players and Google’s impressive search capabilities have felt little, significant competition. As companies start to catch up in the race and come out with their own unique features, these companies will have to ensure their success either through their own new innovations or through the strength of what’s already been done. In tech, although people do display some level of loyalty, it’s definitely a what have you done for me lately attitude. In this case, with such powerful figures aligning, it may be a case ofÂ? what will you do for me. Google maps being available on your iPod video maybe, complete with ads from companies in the area you are looking to find? As always, Paul Kedrosky has a great take on this.
While talking about Paul, I should mention that he has my vote in a recent BusinessWeek poll. The poll is on the “Best of the Web” blogs, and has some heavyweights like TechCrunch, Scobleizer, and Seth’s Blog against, among others, Paul Kedrosky’s Infectious Greed. My vote did go to Paul, supporting a good fellow Canadian kid, but as I mentioned in my comment, Paul is in tough against Mr. Arrington, who is currently in the lead. Get out and vote for your favourite.
While on the topic of supporting Canadians, I should mention Mark Evans and Amber Mac. Marc Evans writes two blogs, or at least two blogs that I’ve stumbled upon. One has been mentioned here before, and that’s Maple Leaf 2.0, and the other we recently found through TheGoodBlogs, that seems to be named Mark Evans. His personal blog seems to be more general, while Maple Leaf seems more specific to 2.0. Amber Mac (I don’t even reallyÂ? know if that’s a full name, but it’s the name of the blog)Â? seems to be an Eastern Canadian that focusses on video media. She worked at G4TechTV for two years and will be finishing up with that company to start her new job with City-TV in Toronto. Not just a pretty face, Amber sports an amazing resume that includes work with CBC-TV Newsworld as a Tech Columnist and Web Strategy Manager for Microsoft Home Magazine. Check out her blog and find out more about the many exciting projects that she’s been a part of and will be bringing to fruition in the near future. What really got me excited was her post about birling down a-down the white water - that’s where the log driver learns to step lightly!