Summary
The articles here are addressing the future plans that Google has in venturing into new markets where it would be able to compete with other companies that are taking the internet and digital technology by storm. Apple Inc. for instance is expanding very fast having launched the iphone, iTunes and lately the iPod. The firms seem to be dominating the music business on the internet since it was the highest selling company for music on the internet. Google also plans to venture into travel business where it would be able to offer information concerning flights of certain traveling companies and the costs so that customers can be able to make comparisons on the internet and seeking firms to use for their services in addition to buying tickets on-line. Google Internet TV, though mentioned earlier in the goggle’s plans, has not been fully implemented. The company states that Google TV would be up soon. On the other hand, the news highlights some of the clashes that Google has had with other competing companies as it seeks its way to the top again. It has been implicated in some anticompetitive adverts on the internet. For instance, Navx was taken out of the Google sites without consent.
How are the two Articles linked?
The articles are linked in that they all address the strategies, challenges and other issues that have been affecting goggle as it struggles to take over the internet business. Google has been very dominant for so long and currently, other companies like yahoo, Apple Inc among others have been making tremendous improvements into areas that Google had not ventured (Efrati & Chon para. 4). Currently, Google is planning to get into music business on the internet; this is a strategy to counter the iTunes, a product from Apple Inc which is doing very well in the American market. The objective of Google to expand has brought about a lot of issues on the internet market causing conflicts of browsers, problems in advert placement, anticompetitive accusations. Additionally, it has led to the introduction of new venture like Internet TV, travel business and the internet music business. These ventures are all instigated by the fact that Google is struggling to keep up with competition.
Google’s Strategy
Google probably lacks a defined strategy of implementing its plan. This could be the reason why it’s been involved in conflicts with other companies over issues like browser wars, anticompetitive adverts and other conflicts. Google has been seeking firms to collaborate with in order to bring music into the internet market. The Google music store is bound to cause tension with software giant; Apple Inc. In order to challenge Apple’s iphone, Google launched the Android software. However, Apple being very inventive, it hit back by re-inventing the iphone and introducing new gadgets such as the iPad.
Google’s tactic is to try and offer alternative services and products as those being offered by its competitors. This is why the company wants to launch iLike which will become a music store like iTunes from Apple Inc. The company is also venturing into the travel market. It plans to beat its competitors by allowing customers to book their tickets directly form the internet. This is not offered by other service providers like Expedis, Priceline and Orbitz. Google will make travel booking very easy. This is a direct response based on Microsoft’s Bing. Google has been under pressure from Bing to innovate a travel search engine. However, having stated that it has no plans of getting into this business of selling tickets to customers, Google is thought to have betrayed its customers.
Reactions from other Players
Others companies, clients and government regulatory agents have noted that Google may not be engaged in fair competition or fair business deals because Microsoft has been dominating the desktop software industry while Apple Inc. has been dominating the music and other gadgets. However, Google has been the major internet search engine. In the recent past, it has introduced office processors like word, spreadsheets and other applications in an attempt to beat Microsoft. It has also introduced Google chrome which is set to compete with Mozilla’s Firefox on internet services. There are plans of launching iLike for music so that iTunes is no longer dominant on the internet music business.
Though Google has some firms that it partners with as it seeks to expand, like Sony and Intel Corp, it has been very controversial in some cases. The French regulatory agents have accused the company of being discriminatory. For instance, Google removed Navx from its ads section without warning. Navx is a firm that offers information on where to find traffic speed cameras and other products such as cheap petrol prices and so on (Colchester para. 3).
Google is also facing charges of anticompetitive behavior against three large competitors. Considering that Google still dominates as the giant search engine and therefore search adverts, it has abused these opportunity. According to Mr. Alumnia of the EU, Google is still being investigated over these allegations. He warned that though Google may has a larger market share, it was not to be termed as being dominant because customers could switch to other service providers (Colchester para. 3). Therefore, Google has to be careful in maintaining its rapport.
Effects of the Conflict in Future
Necessities being the core of innovativeness, other competing companies are on the verge of gaining their own independence and fighting down Google’s dominance on the internet service industry. Since the internet is a very crucial tool when it comes to marketing, other service providers may form alliances against Google so that they are not oppressed by one company which wants to control the market. This can already be seen as many service providers are coming up very strongly like Yahoo and Bing.
Works Cited
- Colchester, Max. French Regulator Rules against Google in Ad Case. Dow Jones & Company, Inc., 2010.
- Efrati, Amir and Chon, Gina. Google’s Empire Expand to Travel. Dow Jones & Company, 2010.