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Here Comes GoogAOLe
Dec. 18th, 2005 10:47 amYou may recall my earlier post regarding AOL being a tempting prize for acquisition by Google.
Well, here's the first step.
"News of Google’s success in the negotiations lifted its shares above $430, another new high. The shares have more than quadrupled since flotation 18 months ago at $85. The deal, which could be announced tomorrow, will provide Google with access to Time Warner’s film and television library. This continues Google’s expansion beyond its original search business."
Content is king. Google knows this, and has always been and will always be a content business. "Search" is just a way to deliver people the content they desperately desire.
If Microsoft doesn't figure this out soon, they'll start their downward slide in a few more years. They can't compete with Sony (Microsoft will never ultimately play a role in things like deciding what DVD formats and standards to use), and now they won't be able to compete with Google/Aol/Time-Warner. Sony's got the home entertainment and hardware market angles cornered, and has an enormous library of content of all kinds at its disposal - they can create de facto standards with delivery systems and make all kinds of proprietary things like UMDs and DRM solutions, although ultimately those things only delay the inevitable mass distribution of content. But Sony understands where things are going.
What's left for Microsoft? Buying Comcast so they can control the set top/cable box and effectively cut off the content at the pass (at the Sony TV and the cable modem your PS3 and Mac mini and TiVo are hooked to)? People won't stand for that. They'll find ways to subvert the technology to get at the content. Apple's already taking that position with iTunes, being the gatekeeper for the content, but the hostile invasion of their DRM by Sony's rootkit shows exactly why being the gatekeeper is not an enviable position for the long term. DRM/control will never, never, never work.
So, to sum up:
Google gets it totally.
Sony gets it, but is too greedy and wants to make the world proprietary.
Apple sort of gets it, but may or may not be taking a profitable path.
Microsoft doesn't get it, and is now too busy fighting wars on every conceivable front with every single company to figure it out.
Yahoo will soon be irrelevant.
Well, here's the first step.
"News of Google’s success in the negotiations lifted its shares above $430, another new high. The shares have more than quadrupled since flotation 18 months ago at $85. The deal, which could be announced tomorrow, will provide Google with access to Time Warner’s film and television library. This continues Google’s expansion beyond its original search business."
Content is king. Google knows this, and has always been and will always be a content business. "Search" is just a way to deliver people the content they desperately desire.
If Microsoft doesn't figure this out soon, they'll start their downward slide in a few more years. They can't compete with Sony (Microsoft will never ultimately play a role in things like deciding what DVD formats and standards to use), and now they won't be able to compete with Google/Aol/Time-Warner. Sony's got the home entertainment and hardware market angles cornered, and has an enormous library of content of all kinds at its disposal - they can create de facto standards with delivery systems and make all kinds of proprietary things like UMDs and DRM solutions, although ultimately those things only delay the inevitable mass distribution of content. But Sony understands where things are going.
What's left for Microsoft? Buying Comcast so they can control the set top/cable box and effectively cut off the content at the pass (at the Sony TV and the cable modem your PS3 and Mac mini and TiVo are hooked to)? People won't stand for that. They'll find ways to subvert the technology to get at the content. Apple's already taking that position with iTunes, being the gatekeeper for the content, but the hostile invasion of their DRM by Sony's rootkit shows exactly why being the gatekeeper is not an enviable position for the long term. DRM/control will never, never, never work.
So, to sum up:
Google gets it totally.
Sony gets it, but is too greedy and wants to make the world proprietary.
Apple sort of gets it, but may or may not be taking a profitable path.
Microsoft doesn't get it, and is now too busy fighting wars on every conceivable front with every single company to figure it out.
Yahoo will soon be irrelevant.