Google today added a new service to its Cloud Storage that will allow developers to send their hard drives to Google to import very large data sets that would otherwise be too expensive and time consuming to undertake alone. Google is charging a flat fee of $80 per hard drive. Google claims that this process of uploading data to a Cloud Storage bucket is both faster and less expensive than transferring data over the Internet. Amazon already has a similar service, and also charges $80 for a hard drive – but Amazon also charges a per-hour fee for uploading data.
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Google Looks To Buy Waze
According to the Israeli business publication Globes, Google will acquire the Ra’anana-based Waze for $1.3 Billion in the near future. If the deal does go through, it will knock a major mapping-data resource out of the game, as Waze’s socially oriented data-collection means that they have a social map that is unrivaled – in fact, Apple Maps used Waze when it discontinued Google Maps data in the Maps app. It seems likely that Waze will remain independent, much like Google’s 2010 acquisition ITA Software. By the same token, it seems reasonable to assume that the social functions of Waze’s app will be included in Google’s social networks, and will increase the accuracy and robustness of Google’s existing traffic-reporting systems. Either way, Apple and Facebook will certainly not have access to the data, which might have been the point of the acquisition in the first place.
Waze Integrates Facebook Event Navigatio
The crowd-sourced directions provider today proved that it’s showing Facebook exactly what it’s missing. Before, users had to sift through Facebook to find the event, copy and paste the data into Google maps, and follow Google’s direction. Now, if you RSVP to an event on Facebook and click the Facebook button on Waze, directions will appear 48 hours prior to the event. If there is no address listed in the event, other guests can input the correct address. Waze will also show you the locations and timing of other friends who have RSVP’d to the event, allowing you to track their progress. How this affects the three-way bidding war for the startup remains to be seen, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction; social driving just got a major upgrade.
Google Play In-App Purchase And Subscription Revenue Raising Rapidly
In a continuation of it’s I/O conference, Google held a session on how to make money on the Andriod operating system. It shared some statistics on why its app store is worth investing in, and they were truly impressive: in-app purchase revenue growth jumped 700% in one year, which is reflected in the top apps as listed by highest grossing titles in the Play rankings. Subscriptions – introduced just a year ago – is showing revenue that’s doubling every quarter. Google, then, is suggesting in-app purchases are a great way for companies to make revenue while also advertising their product. As well, Google noted that there is a 1.7x higher purchase rate on tablets than on phones for apps, and updated apps that take advantage of new operating systems and capabilities perform at almost double the rate of monetization.
Google Wallet Takes On Paypal
One of the more under-the-radar announcements at Google’s I/O conference was Google Wallet. While the idea clearly isn’t the showpiece of Google’s annual conference, it’s nonetheless a direct attack on other payment systems, and leverages Chrome, Android, Google+, and Gmail to undercut competitors. For instance, Google plans to combat shopping-cart-abandonment – which, globally, occurs at a staggering rate of 82% – through Chrome. When you visit a shopping site with Chrome – already the world’s most popular browser – your billing and shipping information will be baked into the browser. You’ll be prompted with your shipping, billing, and credit card information through the browser, and Google says it pares down the checkout from 21 steps to just 3. The biggest sticking point of this part of Google Wallet, though, is that website owners have to implement the API on their end, so the potential impact is inherently limited unless it becomes the industry standard. At the same time, Google has also introduced a mobile API that would allow e-commerce websites to support checkout via Google Wallet, setting up a direct alternative to the PayPal button. It’s similar to the Chrome system, but as it’s early days for the technology, there aren’t many more details revealed yet.
More impressively though, Google Wallet has extended its Android reach into the physical world. Merchants and Developers are now able to sell physical goods and services through Google Wallet, and can now offer Android users two-click checkout. Partners include Airbnb, Expedia, Uber, Wrapp, Rue La La, and more. What’s more, though, is that Google Wallet also functions in Gmail, leveraging the peer-to-peer element of email to enable person-to-person payments. With Gmail’s latest update, users can now “attach money” to an email, to transfer funds between people, say, to the babysitter instead of cash, etc. Google Wallet still falls behind functions like PayPal and Square in the real-world department, and it’s unclear what Plan B is if NFC fails. At the same time, though, there’s a new hat in the ‘Wallet’ ring, one to be watched closely.
Google To Launch Streaming Service
Google has announced a streaming music service called Google Play Music All Access built on top of their Play store. Let’s just say it contains all the features of Spotify–mobile and desktop access, a recommendation engine and social integration–with one major exception. Unlike most of Google products, Google Music will be $9.99 per month. iTunes is expected to launch their streaming service this year so expect the space to get cluttered pretty quickly.
Youtube To Launch Paid-Subscription Channels
Youtube has, for some time now, been expanding its services into multiple entertainment platforms, but according to a report from the FInancial Times it is now on the verge of revealings subscription services for some of its special video channels. According to the Financial Times report, it will include up to 50 different channels, with subscription prices apparently starting at “as little as $1.99 a month.” For what it’s worth, Google has followed up saying that it’s working on investigating “a subscription platform that could bring even more great content to YouTube.” Which basically seems like it amounts to a yes; a subscription based YouTube could throw a massive wrench into the television and online streaming service industry that exists today. For consumers and advertisers alike, the announcement could mean new opportunities and models, so this announcement is worth taking into consideration.
Snickers Runs Search Ads Against Misspellings
Search marketing does not usually lend itself to the most creative executions, but don’t tell Snickers that. The classic candy ran a search campaign against misspelled Google queries as part of their “You’re Not You When Your Hungry” positioning. The playful campaign hinged on the fact that hungry people often make typos and apparently reached 500,000 people that could use a Snickers.
Your Eyeballs Are Money
Today at TechCrunch Disrupt NY, executives from Google, Facebook and Twitter were assembled on a panel to discuss advertising. The participants expressed some common views on the industry but also some sharp philosophical differences emerged.
Neal Mohan of Google stressed that for advertising they are trying to embrace context, for example mobile vs. desktop and lean forward vs. lean back settings. He also highlighted that measurement represents one of the biggest unsolved problems in the landscape today. It’s critical to be able to measure the efficacy of digital ads in terms of driving sales. Google is currently investing a lot in solving this problem.
Gokul Rajaram from Facebook agreed that context was important, and pointed out that Facebook has been focusing heavily on creating an optimized mobile experience. In fact, a full 23% of Facebook’s advertising revenue comes from mobile at this stage. The guiding philosophy behind the recently-launched Facebook Home was to put your friends at the center of your mobile experience rather than your apps. It was key, he indicated, that advertising not be interruptive, but that it fit into the flow of the natural way people are using an application.
Kevin Weil of Twitter discussed how the site is “a bridge, not an island”, insomuch as it drives action from sponsored content out into the world. He described the platform as the social soundtrack to TV, pointing out that 95% of social commentary about TV is on Twitter. He feels the two platforms thus make each other stronger for advertisers. Mr. Weil also pointed out that no one typically screenshots a banner ad and shares it, the way people actively retweet promoted tweets within their Twitter feeds.
A difference of opinion emerged into how to credit different digital marketing tools for effectiveness measuring purposes. Facebook’s point of view is that the last click before purchase doesn’t necessarily deserve all of the credit; they feel that brand-building interactions (e.g. Likes, Suggested Posts) play a more important role in driving purchase than conventional wisdom would currently say. Meanwhile Twitter feels as though engagement with Tweets and links therein that drive to purchase are critical, and the “last click” before purchase deservedly gets the lion’s share of attention.
Google Now Comes to iOS
iOS Users: Welcome to the predictive search future. Google has integrated its Google Now product, previously only found in Android’s post-Jelly Bean releases, into its Google Search iOS app. Google Now is designed to present you with information before you ask for it, tracking packages, flights, traffic, weather, sports, concerts, and dozens of other pieces of information. One limitation of the iOS release is that it is still app-based and does not carry the advantage of being baked-in as it is with Android. This upgrade to the iOS app could be the first in a series of moves to make predictive search ubiquitous on mobile devices.
