Amazon Data Sets

February 25, 2009

A reader of Google patent documents will be aware of the company’s nudging forward in content delivery. Amazon has an uncanny ability to stay one step ahead of Googzilla. Google might want to bite the bullet and buy Amazon. In my opinion, the wizards headed by the world’s smartest man could end the embarrassment. Amazon has expanded beyond eCommerce. Amazon has crafted a handhold in cloud services. Now Amazon has pushed into content delivery or, more accurately, content access. You can read about the public data sets available via Amazon Web services here. Who cares about these data sets? Well, frankly, not the folks who search for “Perez Hilton”. The key point is that Amazon moves more quickly than Google into spaces that Google’s technical papers and patent documents suggest Google itself finds interesting. A year ago, I held the view that Google was biding its time. Now, I’m not so sure. I think Google is unable to find the right sequence of key presses to unlock some opportunities. Google is now facing three competitors who no longer worry too much about the Mountain View crowd: Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter. As search shifts to real time, Google is beginning to look less agile in my opinion. Add to Google’s inability or unwillingness to respond in this content sector, the YAGG (yet another Google glitch) like the Gmail meltdown and the pfishing issue I noted yesterday, 2009 is shaping up to be quite exciting. Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter are far from perfect. But — count ’em — three companies finding traction where Googzilla’s paws are slipping.

Stephen Arnold, February 25, 2009

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