Hello, this is Google…Can you hear me now?
October 17, 2007 – 12:15 pm
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The biggest buzz in the cell phone business lately has been the entrance of the iPhone from lux technology designer Apple and the way that it may, or may not, shake up the smart phone business. Between its much-hyped entrance to the market, deals with Google Maps, controversial $200 price slash, and sequel (the iTouch), Steve Jobs’ slick bit of technology has dominated speculation, innovation, and competition in the maturing mobile market for the past 3 ½ months.
Despite narcissist proclamations that the iPhone will change the cellular technology, an even more ground-breaking piece of technology is rumored to be in the pipeline that could permanently alter, not just the technology of cell phones, but the entire financial structure of the mobile market, and the very concept of marketing itself. That might seem like a tall order, but who could be better prepared to meet it than a company, which has already altered the concept of advertising and marketing in an inter-connected world: Google.
A recent BusinessWeek article discussed the widely held suspicion that the young founders of Google’s multi-billion dollar search engine and internet behemoth are planning to move beyond the partnership they have forged with Apple’s iPhone to generate their own mobile software and technology with an eye towards expanding into the mobile market.
But the rumor is that Google’s new service has no intention of following the popular model of fat profits from service charges favored by carriers AT&T, Verizon, or Nextel. Instead, Google plans to make its mobile service, like much of its other offerings, totally free to consumers. In return for free service, customers must sign a contract allowing companies to contact them continuously with carefully targeted ads based on interests, home address, and even GPS-monitored location.
If you think this idea seems like something straight out of a big brother corporate nightmare, you have company. But the concept of Google’s phone and a service package paid for entirely by advertisers raises deeper questions about the nature of marketing and how far it will go to attract the “ADD” generation. Will the market evolve to the point where companies will blatantly pay off customers in order to get attention? This sort of thinking takes the concept of interactive marketing to a whole new level. Big changes could be in the wind for the entire philosophy behind marketing as the world becomes ever more independent and, ironically, ever more connected.
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