The Google Fear Bulb Lights A Decade Too Late
November 25, 2009
Magazine publishers are a clever group. The mass market titles which I loved when in grade school have gone. The magazine industry chased niches, but the Internet delivers niches. Now in an act of innovation, magazine publishers are going to form an alliance to tame the digital wolves. The idea is to have domesticated digitals in the content kennel.
I found “Time Inc.’s Squires Assembles Team of Rivals to Harness Digital Media” quite fascinating. The New York Observer reported:
Each magazine publisher now believes it’s too risky to go it alone to find new ways to get consumers to pay. If they all join together, the reasoning goes, they stand a better chance of producing greater revenue.
When I read this passage, my addled goose mind interpreted is as saying something along the lines, “Google is going to disrupt our business. We can make more money doing digital stuff ourselves.”
Please, read the original story because maybe I am either too tired or too jaded to dig deeply into this bold idea from the magazine mavens.
In my research for Google: The Digital Gutenberg, I came to the conclusion that the Google has a good head of steam built up. The infrastructure is mostly complete. The deal breaker engineering problems have been mostly resolved. The company has a heck of a user and customer base. The firm’s pace of new product and service introductions is increasing.
The magazine publishers have a problem similar to Microsoft’s with regard to Google. First, the “time’ needed to get the group organized, solve technical problems, and get revenues flowing is going to give the Google more time to move forward. In fact, if fate conspires against traditional publishers, Google may just go to authors and sign them up to write original news and analysis, research, and monographs for Googzilla.
Then what happens?
Google’s lead just get bigger. The publishers are starting to get in gear, but I think the 11 year head start might be a bit of a challenge. I advocate surfing on Google, not trying to fill a cup with a puncture in its side. Just my opinion.
Stephen Arnold, November 25, 2009
I wish to disclose to the Office of Citizen Services that I was not paid to send this public service message to the two or three readers of this Web log.
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