Amika Mobile Blog

Google has made a series of interesting acquisitions around the mobile space: Android (for the leader and talent and implementation of their announced Internet mobility open platform focussed on mobility in-context);  Reqwireless (a tiny Waterloo-based company with a Java ME browser to transform desktop content for a handheld);  Zingku (a mobile social networking service for trusted groups of people that runs over SMS); Dodgeball (an earlier social networking acquisition that Google closed - also worked over SMS on mobile phones but its integration into Google seems to not have gone well ). Google has also signed deals with companies like Vodaphone who will eventually launch a Google Mobile Phone for search, email and social nets. Reading about Google’s strategy is interesting. They say they are focused on making search on the handheld more of a “Find” than a “Browse” - this makes a lot of sense as you never want the flood of the Internet into a 2×2 inch screen on a handheld. You also want it personalized and in-context - I also like this since in our world of AI we have been talking about the importance of content-in-context since the 90s! Finally, they like SMS as it is more universal for mobile handhelds but recognize the importance of data services for other countries where people love their iPhones and Blackberries. I also love the idea of Google buying spectrum. As someone who cut her teeth in the world of Telecom Services and now Internet Apps., I know that the carriers who nearly missed the Internet altogether as a way of linking people the world over are insisting that their networks stay closed and this IMHO will strangle their revenues. Organizations like Google whether you love them or hate them, will force the carriers and other giants to shift or die just as Microsoft did to IBM so will Google do to the carriers and Microsoft. Google wants an open mobile platform with people inventing new apps just as they have on the Internet. And Google wants to collect all that potential mobile advertising revenue! Is it really such a bad thing? For the enterprise, you just need to pay attention to things that the enterprise still typically has to worry about like Compliance and Security. Yes, this is probably why Google bought Postini but that will just be the tip of the iceberg for what work they still need to do to get the enterprise on board. For now, their mobile strategy is looking good wrt the consumer market but needs refining wrt the enterprise!