Question
Google Stirs Rumor Pot with Arizona Announcement
By Ina Steiner
AuctionBytes.com
October 13, 2005
Google announced it is opening a location in the Phoenix area of Arizona where it will locate 600 engineering and support jobs. Bloggers began speculating on whether Google could be planning an auction site to rival eBay (http://www.searchenginejournal.com/index.php?p=2322).
Mike Sunnucks, a reporter with The Business Journal in Phoenix, said Google was tight-lipped about its plans for the facility. He did say that Phoenix is known as a back-office to support payment services, and is not known as a high-tech hub. Bank of America and American Express have operations located in Phoenix.
Rumors of a Google online payment service began in June when ChannelAdvisor's CEO Scot Wingo made reference to a Google Wallet payment service at a Piper Jaffray conference (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y05/m06/i20/s05).
The TechDirt blog reported Wednesday that someone had uncovered a "Google Purchases" page (http://techdirt.com/articles/20051012/0020217_F.shtml). However, don't believe everything you read; the same day, the Google dentist bog was revealed to be a hoax (http://digbig.com/4exye).
Related Articles
"Google's 600-person Arizona plant sparks competition," by Mike Sunnucks, The Business Journal (Phoenix), 10/12/05
http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/...0/daily33.html
"Google to add 600 jobs at engineering facility in Valley," Jonathan Higuera, The Arizona Republic, 10/12/05
http://digbig.com/4exyj
"Google to locate new facility in Phoenix area" (AP)
http://digbig.com/4exym
Google Job Postings, Phoenix
http://digbig.com/4exyg
Answer
*sigh*
I'd love to see Google do it. I really, really, really hope they do!
Beth
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I don't think Google will ever open an auction type venue.
The auction concept has peaked on the Internet and whatever demand exists and will continue to exist is fully served by eBay and the specialized venues.
Think about auctions in the B&M world. They are an important but minor part of the overall retail market.
The future is in fixed priced selling.
Google is well positioned to become a dominant force in fixed price Internet selling.
They may need a payment system established before entering the field to remain fully separate from eBay.
Then they could offer everything from a Craigslist type classified section for individuals, a more formal fixed priced venue, Stores and even integrate large corporate websites into the search.
One stop shopping from a gateway provided by the most respected name on the consumer Internet.
They have the brains, talent, respect in the industry, will to succeed with excellence and money, like no other company.
They could have 100,000 sellers tomorrow if they announced the start of a beta program.
While all of the positive factors are more than enough to ensure a positive outcome, I also believe the widespread disgust with eBay's present management that is felt by sellers and buyers on that site would create a secondary force of support for a Google venue that would act like a booster engine.
Yesterday would not be soon enough.
Answer
Google Purchases Coming Soon?
By Rick Aristotle Munarriz (TMFBreakerRick)
October 13, 2005
Is Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) ready to swap some virtual coinage? Yesterday, Webmasterbrain.com uncovered a signup page for Google Purchases at the purchases.google.com subdomain.
Smoked out, Google went on to redirect that traffic to the general Google Accounts page, but not before a screen shot all but confirmed that Google is nearing the beta rollout of its online financial payment service.
This move has been rumored for months now. Google has even gone on record over the summer to explain that the eventual offering is not aiming to compete with eBay's (Nasdaq: EBAY) popular PayPal subsidiary. Its original intent appears to be simply to give Froogle merchants and AdWords advertisers a new alternative to conduct business with Google, and Google alone. The system is tied to a user's credit card -- not the more PayPal-like personal bank account. Even the name -- "Purchases" -- is dry and corporate. If Google were gunning for the general consumer market, surely it would have picked something more casual like Google Pay, Goopay, or Google Cash.
Then again, how things start and how they wind up years later is often beyond anyone's control. If Google's work on Purchases has the same level of excellence that the search king has shown in everything from Google Earth, Google Local, or the flagship search engine, how can Google Purchases not catch on -- and cash in -- on the mainstream masses?
And why would Google dedicate resources to creating a worthy virtual transaction service that it couldn't easily port into a consumer-to-consumer platform? If Google's advertising model relies on the volume and quality of eyeballs, how can it not want to be a more sticky component to users looking to exchange money online? Even if Google believes that this isn't the direction that Purchases will be taking, I'll "Google Purchase" you a virtual buck in a few years if this isn't the logical hitching post for what this upcoming service will evolve into.
It won't be easy, though. Rolling out an online payment service has been hard unless your name is PayPal. Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) shuttered its PayDirect service last year. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) also gave up promoting its Passport feature to third parties. Even eBay's own Billpoint payment service couldn't topple PayPal. That's why eBay, a Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendation, ultimately bought PayPal. Google will make things interesting, though, even if it keeps asking folks to move along because there is nothing to see here.
There is something to see here, though. One just needs to look harder, and further out.
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GOOD POST Ray!
Also, I couldn't agree more about the internet auction base at (or past) it's peak.
I think the next logical step for G after the payment system has stabilized is to introduce internet store front hosting...
...one can only hope!
Cheers
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They have the brains, talent, respect in the industry, will to succeed with excellence and money, like no other company.
I do agree... but I would also like to add one thing...
Google is also "anti-establishment", which only feeds the flames!
Cheers
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I would love a Google storefront. :-)
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A colorful comment from the Store Board threads discussing this topic.
" I have a feeling that you could hear every sphincter in the eBay board room slam shut this morning when they read that news."
Link to the threads below:
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I can't get the here link system to work but here are the URLs
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.js...1292 40919147
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.js...1292 32890179
Answer
Well...
If G does plan to dive into online auctions (I'm not entirely convinced that they are), that would definitely change the online landscape immensely.
If one takes a moment to ponder, who else has the clout and popularity to tackle eBay's perceived monopoly, other than Google? I can't think of any other entity.
Let's see, what did eBay store owners get this year for the 60% fee hike? (Other than the status quo bugs, glitches and annoyances!)
- a few more pixels in our thumbnail images (WOO HOO)
- a phone support line that doesn't work
- can't forget the Guides & Reviews... a completely worthless investement, that only the most out of touch shareholder would think was worth all the hubbub
- CHINA!!! Forced labor at it's finest will be happy to buy and sell on eBay!
Google Auctions? Let's hope it happens...
Cheers