Re: Watching Google

As published in Financial Times on 20-Jul-2010

Dear Sir,

In your editorial you mention that "Google is not obviously being evil but it is such a powerful technology company that it has the potential to go astray".

Well, but as Google argues - if they mis-use their trust of their customers, the competition is just a click away unlike how majority of people are all locked in Microsoft's inept operating systems.

Unfortunately, the job of most of the arm-chair observers is just to make these kind of comments. What Google has provided is the vision for so many services which were just unimaginable or available only to elite few.

Firstly, they have come up with Search which was ignored by all the big tech companies. (inspite of their so call huge R&D budgets!!!) Which itself has changed the way we live our lives. Which has taken away the stress from our lives by connecting us to what we seek.

The markets where they have entered late (like email), they have redefined the scope of the status-quo by making the product better. (The concept of Conversation in an email to minimum 1 GB storage!!!)

Finally, where they have purchased the companies to get an entry point (like Google Maps or Youtube), they have left the start-ups intact after providing all the resources to pursue their passion rather than killing them in the big beauracratic machine.

So, before worrying about whether Google is evil, you should be encouraging other companies to behave like Google. Think how our lives were before the Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, Google Earth, Google Apps, Youtube, Google Books etc.,

Regards,

Pradeep Kabra

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Watching Google - Editorial in Financial Times, 16Jul2010

Regulators need to keep an eye on a powerful company

Google is an innovative company that has produced many benefits for consumers with its free search technology. In turn, it has become a highly profitable enterprise with a strong market share.
It is thus very important to many companies – particularly small businesses – where they appear in Google’s search rankings. They have no way of knowing how Google’s technology works since the company wants to protect its competitive edge.
As a result, Google is coming under increased scrutiny from regulators, with the European Commission already making informal inquiries into the search market. As yet, there is no evidence of Google abusing its market power, but it could do so.
As reported in the Financial Times this week, Google is facing controversy in two areas. The first is “search neutrality”, the suggestion that regulators should oversee its algorithms or set clear rules to ensure that search engines are not systematically biased for editorial or commercial reasons.
This is an impractical and unnecessary idea. As Marissa Mayer, Google’s head of search, argued in the FT, it is better for different search engines to compete vigorously with each other to produce the best and most relevant results. Google may be highly successful in search, but competition is only a free click away.
The second area of concern is Google’s provision of vertical services linked to search – for example, its display of Google Maps when a user looks for an address, or Google comparison shopping data when someone searches for a camera. This affects rival providers in travel and e-commerce.
Barry Diller, chairman of Expedia and InterActiveCorp, protested this week about Google’s $700m acquisition of ITA Software, saying that it would give Google unfair leverage in displaying flight information. Mr Diller wants the deal to be scrutinised carefully by regulators and conditions imposed.
Google’s defence is that it is trying to supply the most useful possible information to users. But the potential for antitrust abuse through the tying of vertical services to search raises clear concerns. European and US regulators should use the ITA deal to examine the issue broadly.
It would be wrong for Google to be hamstrung by regulators simply because its services are superior to rivals, but it needs to be watched with care. Google is not obviously being evil but it is such a powerful technology company that it has the potential to go astray.

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