In-car satellite TV never made sense - why waste $1300 and $20-30 a month on something you ever only use at most 30-40 minutes a day - and then only on maybe one or two days a month?
The driver doesn't benefit from the system - they can't watch the TV either way and there's no programming FOR adults (it's all cartoons - and crappy ones at that).
Only way in-vehicle satellite TV works is if you're going cross-country in an RV. And then I'd just stick with a prepaid DishNow system or else just use free-to-air (and accompanying hacks to get onto Dish). Or if I were smart, I'd stray towards RV parks with free WiFi and just Hulu all the shows I want to see when traveling. #gizmodoremainders
There's a similar situation with a town listed as "Ioka, IA" near where I live. It's on Google maps, but there is literally one house there. #gizmodoremainders
Google is like a slow lumbering behemoth. You may think you can keep it in your sights but you get this unsettling feeling it's speeding up. You take your eyes of it for a moment and BAM! It's right up behind you and then a few moments later you're choking on its dust as it hurtles onwards, bigger and deadlier than ever before. #google
@cattrain:
Actually if you zoom in to about the level where you can start seeing the roads most of the US just bears Googles copyright. The other copyrights as you zoom out are likely due to the images used in the satellite views rather than the actually road maps (which are pretty much all Google now). Also the article did specify that they'd mapped the US so obviously Tokyo is going to be different.
Thing is as the article points out it's only the US that's primarily mapped out by Google right now but they are working on the rest of the world. It's only a matter of time before they catch up and the closer they do get to that world map that's under their control the bigger the threat they are.
The fact it's managed to smash the stocks of other major GPS manufacturers simply by showing off a beta shows that even if they won't kill them off they can still cripple their opponents with ease. It's not a case of simply introducing competition, it's introducing competition with the force of a stampede behind it. #google
Google has app's to get on the internet with a phone, and yet I'm sitting in the campus library on my laptop. Google makes app's for music players, yet I still would choose a dedicated mp3 player over one built into a phone. Google has app's to scratch my ass, yet I still use my hand, (analog, I know).
What kills me it how much the people who endorse Google and (buy) their little minion products, services, and companies will complain about how Google is taking over the world at a rate that would make L. Ron Hubbard have (necrophilic) wet dreams. Wanna stop them? Go support the other evil army trying to take over the planet and buy an iPhone. Or start a revolution. Either way I've got my machete (for zombies), my microwave sans the door (for robots), and a doobie (aliens are pot-heads). I'm prepared for Jobs's worst.
@JoeKhurr:
And yet your iPhone has app's for farting?
I don't see the point of your first point though. Are you trying to say that somehow Google should have made browsing on a phone better than browsing on a PC? Or maybe that browsing on an iPhone is better than browsing on a laptop. Last I checked internet on a mobile device is a convenience feature, handy to have but should be avoided if possible.
Also dedicated mp3 players are a dying breed, everything is multi-purpose these days. Take the iPod Touch for example: it's gotten to the point where even I am considering one, and I rarely listen to music.
Also Apple can hardly be considered trying to take over the planet. They have had a huge success in the PMP/Smartphone market but outside that they haven't had any other major successes. Their computer division was revitalised somewhat by switching to Intel processors and it's pretty damn amusing how much boot camp probably helped revive its flagging Mac sales. I will agree that they are evil though. #google
Very good write up. But there is a HUGE difference with this and companies like Microsoft. Google isn't really after the competition, and the only thing they are even doing to go after them is actually provide a good product, they are able to do it for free because of their infrastructure. Not there money.
Google has indeed made a business out of providing and indexing information, and valuable information at that. Just because they have a different plan for how money should be made doesn't make their practices unfair to other businesses.
I don't understand how you at all think this will take companies like Garmin out of business? Garmin or TomTom don't rely on maps to make money, they rely on hardware, specifically Garmin, who doesn't even have an "App" on the market at this time, correct?
The stock market is not that reliable of a source to determine a companies situation, as 1-2 days can result in massive drastic changes. #google
Google is probably going to get slapped by the EU over this if they aren't excruciatingly careful. Their "competitors" in the map space are European, and the circumstances are too close parallel to Microsoft's bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows to ignore.
The maker of an operating system decides to recreate the functionality of a popular application and bundle it in for free with the OS. Predictably, the makers of the original application quickly find it is hard to compete with free and their market share plummets. Fifteen years ago, the application was a browser and the OS was Windows. Five years from now, the app will be navigation and the OS will be Android.
Google's defense is
#1- that Android's market share is tiny compared to Windows', but that may change in the future
and #2- they were previously customers of Tele Atlas so can call this a "cost saving measure" instead of "creating a competing product". Of course, it's certainly NOT saving them any money, but they will claim the mapping is a core technology that is impossible to un-bundle from the mobile operating system without hurting their customers (again, sound familiar?) #google
@WMyers: I still think their argument is going to be "its nothing different from what we already had before". The G1 had real time navigation from the beginning. It was just ugly and kinda difficult to use. I don't see how them doing little more than updating the UI is going to get them in trouble. #google
@zaxwashere: I don't think that has anything to do with the crux of the argument. Just because the droid is sexy doesn't change the fact that its just google changing how they present data they've presented from the beginning.
Besides google's "bigness" isn't really changed by the fact that they've now got a couple of android phones on VZW. #google
@WMyers: What you're forgetting is that, unlike Microsoft, Google doesn't SELL anything. They give it away for free. Android is free. Google maps is free.
@WMyers: I believe that all the competitors to Google's Navigation are still available, if you want them. Google isn't shutting them out at all. They're making them obsolete. Big difference between disallowing their use, and making them no longer appealing. If I want to, I can install all the non-Google navigation apps I want to on Android, and pay $100 a year to use them. Google isn't preventing me from doing that, and they have no control over what their competitors charge. #google
@newgalactic: If I want, I can install all the $20 internet browsers I want on my desktop, but the vast majority of users will stick with what's already installed. It wasn't the pricing or the access to competition that got Microsoft in trouble, it was the bundling of what had previously been considered a unique application that was demonstrably NOT essential to the basic function of the operating system. #google
@WMyers: So the solution to Googles worries is to make the user choose at first boot of the device. Choose between all the major mapping/navigation apps available (M$'s very on solution to the anti-trust case, but with browsers). Not a prob. Cause what users will see is Googles free app, and everyone else's pay-for-play apps. They can just have the OS show you the apps in the existing Android app store, and let the users make the choice.
Google could also easily make the case that it isn't bundling of apps that is making people choose their navigation app. After all, all the alternatives are easily available on the app store, just a few clicks away. They could make the case that it is their price of "free" that is what is motivating people.
Comparing this to M$ and IE is a poor comparison because all the browsers in the M$ case were free. However, people were still flocking to IE because it was bundled with Windows. With Google however, it will be hard to make the case that it is because of the bundling that people tend to choose the Google Navigation app. It's obviously because of the price. And Google has no control over what their competition charges.
How will google make money from the free maps app? Just by making people use Android, or by some evil scheme, like rerouting your trip through the nearest AdWords buyer... #google
@okeribok: I'm not a savant, but I'm guessing at first it will be another loss leader to get people hooked. I know I'm hooked on a lot of Google's services.
Later on, they'll cut the hemorrhaging by including some mini ads on the interface.
As it develops, my guess is they will make money by being the gatekeeper/hot waitress of choice for all the information you want at any given time. Wanna find the best fried chicken joint along your route? There's an ad for that. Wanna know what the weather will be like at your Grandma's house for Thanksgiving at the end of your drive? There's an ad for that, and by the way, Google knows that you like caramel apples, and it just so happens there's a 5 star rated caramel apple stand only half a mile off your path.
One thing I like about Google is that they think long term. They have the bales of cash to effectively do so, and they're not afraid to have a business that won't make money for a while. That's how real innovation has to work, and I for one am ready to accept my new Google overlords. #google
"I was always afraid of spiders growing up, not because of the eight legs or the umpteen eyes, but because of the way they kill their prey."
You mean you weren't scared of the part where the spider can lay eggs into your ear while sleeping and when you wake up, you'll see little baby spiders crawling out the side of your head? ;) #google
There is a term for this type of technology that literally means "upsetting the balance of power" and means "paradigm changing".... Google has a record/history of developing these sorts of technology that tend take a lot of the assumptions that other businesses make and throw them out... #google
Why innovate and stay competitive when you can just get the US and/or EU to investigate Google on grounds of monopolization and get them mired in years of antitrust hearings, settlements, and regulations against anti-competitive practices?
Come on, Microsoft redefined the true measure of business success: being so large that it has to be regulated to keep from crushing industry competitors, but essential enough that it can't be allowed to fail lest it drag the rest of the industry down with it. #google
While TomTom likely will feel this as bad as Garmin, as a pilot, Garmin also has aviation GPS systems that I don't think Google will be replacing anytime soon. #google
@RW-One: which is all fine and dandy, but i dont think the stock holders are going to be pining to see the next aviation gps that Garmin releases... #google
@beamin445: actually, Garmin just released a new line, the Aera, for pilots that incorporate the Nuvi series and touchscreen capability into aviation portables, things look well over there. #google
I know this sounds trollish, and I'm not a troll, but ...
I wonder what the reaction would have been if Microsoft had announced the free nav app this morning.
Seriously, I'm amazed by the "Google can do no wrong" attitude that is so prevalent, but the European Union thrashes away at companies because they have a browser or a music player, or too many databases (yeah, I'm alluding to Microsoft and Oracle).
I remember the furor when Microsoft's "might" at being the OS manufacturer was considered an unfair advantage when it launched Office (a "for money" app) and companies like Ashton-Tate and other word processor and spreadsheet makers were portrayed as the victims. #google
11/04/09
The driver doesn't benefit from the system - they can't watch the TV either way and there's no programming FOR adults (it's all cartoons - and crappy ones at that).
Only way in-vehicle satellite TV works is if you're going cross-country in an RV. And then I'd just stick with a prepaid DishNow system or else just use free-to-air (and accompanying hacks to get onto Dish). Or if I were smart, I'd stray towards RV parks with free WiFi and just Hulu all the shows I want to see when traveling. #gizmodoremainders
11/04/09
11/03/09
11/04/09
10/29/09
10/28/09
10/29/09
Actually if you zoom in to about the level where you can start seeing the roads most of the US just bears Googles copyright. The other copyrights as you zoom out are likely due to the images used in the satellite views rather than the actually road maps (which are pretty much all Google now). Also the article did specify that they'd mapped the US so obviously Tokyo is going to be different.
Thing is as the article points out it's only the US that's primarily mapped out by Google right now but they are working on the rest of the world. It's only a matter of time before they catch up and the closer they do get to that world map that's under their control the bigger the threat they are.
The fact it's managed to smash the stocks of other major GPS manufacturers simply by showing off a beta shows that even if they won't kill them off they can still cripple their opponents with ease. It's not a case of simply introducing competition, it's introducing competition with the force of a stampede behind it. #google
10/28/09
What kills me it how much the people who endorse Google and (buy) their little minion products, services, and companies will complain about how Google is taking over the world at a rate that would make L. Ron Hubbard have (necrophilic) wet dreams. Wanna stop them? Go support the other evil army trying to take over the planet and buy an iPhone. Or start a revolution. Either way I've got my machete (for zombies), my microwave sans the door (for robots), and a doobie (aliens are pot-heads). I'm prepared for Jobs's worst.
That's all, I'm good now. Carry on. #google
10/29/09
And yet your iPhone has app's for farting?
I don't see the point of your first point though. Are you trying to say that somehow Google should have made browsing on a phone better than browsing on a PC? Or maybe that browsing on an iPhone is better than browsing on a laptop. Last I checked internet on a mobile device is a convenience feature, handy to have but should be avoided if possible.
Also dedicated mp3 players are a dying breed, everything is multi-purpose these days. Take the iPod Touch for example: it's gotten to the point where even I am considering one, and I rarely listen to music.
Also Apple can hardly be considered trying to take over the planet. They have had a huge success in the PMP/Smartphone market but outside that they haven't had any other major successes. Their computer division was revitalised somewhat by switching to Intel processors and it's pretty damn amusing how much boot camp probably helped revive its flagging Mac sales. I will agree that they are evil though. #google
10/28/09
Google has indeed made a business out of providing and indexing information, and valuable information at that. Just because they have a different plan for how money should be made doesn't make their practices unfair to other businesses.
I don't understand how you at all think this will take companies like Garmin out of business? Garmin or TomTom don't rely on maps to make money, they rely on hardware, specifically Garmin, who doesn't even have an "App" on the market at this time, correct?
The stock market is not that reliable of a source to determine a companies situation, as 1-2 days can result in massive drastic changes. #google
10/28/09
omg don't be so naive in public. sometimes things are EXACTLY as they seem. #google
10/28/09
The maker of an operating system decides to recreate the functionality of a popular application and bundle it in for free with the OS. Predictably, the makers of the original application quickly find it is hard to compete with free and their market share plummets. Fifteen years ago, the application was a browser and the OS was Windows. Five years from now, the app will be navigation and the OS will be Android.
Google's defense is
#1- that Android's market share is tiny compared to Windows', but that may change in the future
and #2- they were previously customers of Tele Atlas so can call this a "cost saving measure" instead of "creating a competing product". Of course, it's certainly NOT saving them any money, but they will claim the mapping is a core technology that is impossible to un-bundle from the mobile operating system without hurting their customers (again, sound familiar?) #google
10/28/09
10/28/09
and with the sexy motorolla droid phones...might do some damage
Nobody cares if you're a mosquito bite, but once you start growing...then they get scared...
10/28/09
Besides google's "bigness" isn't really changed by the fact that they've now got a couple of android phones on VZW. #google
10/28/09
Not parallel to MS at all. #google
10/28/09
10/29/09
10/29/09
Google could also easily make the case that it isn't bundling of apps that is making people choose their navigation app. After all, all the alternatives are easily available on the app store, just a few clicks away. They could make the case that it is their price of "free" that is what is motivating people.
Comparing this to M$ and IE is a poor comparison because all the browsers in the M$ case were free. However, people were still flocking to IE because it was bundled with Windows. With Google however, it will be hard to make the case that it is because of the bundling that people tend to choose the Google Navigation app. It's obviously because of the price. And Google has no control over what their competition charges.
10/28/09
10/28/09
Later on, they'll cut the hemorrhaging by including some mini ads on the interface.
As it develops, my guess is they will make money by being the gatekeeper/hot waitress of choice for all the information you want at any given time. Wanna find the best fried chicken joint along your route? There's an ad for that. Wanna know what the weather will be like at your Grandma's house for Thanksgiving at the end of your drive? There's an ad for that, and by the way, Google knows that you like caramel apples, and it just so happens there's a 5 star rated caramel apple stand only half a mile off your path.
One thing I like about Google is that they think long term. They have the bales of cash to effectively do so, and they're not afraid to have a business that won't make money for a while. That's how real innovation has to work, and I for one am ready to accept my new Google overlords. #google
10/28/09
world domination!
and then they decide to charge all their users.
we're screwed #google
10/28/09
10/28/09
You mean you weren't scared of the part where the spider can lay eggs into your ear while sleeping and when you wake up, you'll see little baby spiders crawling out the side of your head? ;) #google
10/28/09
10/28/09
Come on, Microsoft redefined the true measure of business success: being so large that it has to be regulated to keep from crushing industry competitors, but essential enough that it can't be allowed to fail lest it drag the rest of the industry down with it. #google
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
11/04/09
10/28/09
I wonder what the reaction would have been if Microsoft had announced the free nav app this morning.
Seriously, I'm amazed by the "Google can do no wrong" attitude that is so prevalent, but the European Union thrashes away at companies because they have a browser or a music player, or too many databases (yeah, I'm alluding to Microsoft and Oracle).
I remember the furor when Microsoft's "might" at being the OS manufacturer was considered an unfair advantage when it launched Office (a "for money" app) and companies like Ashton-Tate and other word processor and spreadsheet makers were portrayed as the victims. #google