[QUOTE]A few years back, Amazon introduced a program called Prime, which allows users to receive free two-day shipping – and more recently, a range of free movies and e-book downloads – for a flat yearly fee. By most accounts, Amazon Prime has been extremely successful. So successful, in fact, that Google appears to want a piece of the action.
In a report today in the Wall Street Journal, Amir Efrati and Stu Woo write that Google is actively developing an e-commerce platform, similar in scope to Amazon Prime. The platform would work by "melding" Google's product-search feature with a "quick-shipping service" overseen by Google. Plug in the product name, in other words, and Google would make sure the product is on your doorstep in a matter of days.
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"[S]ome retailers are interested in signing up for it, said people familiar with the matter," the Journal reports. "They said Google has pitched the project to big retailers that it has teamed up with in the past, a group that includes Macy's Inc., Gap Inc. and OfficeMax Inc." A Macy's spokesman confirmed the store had spoken to Google reps, but told the Journal that no concrete decisions had been made.
An Amazon Prime-like service would certainly heat up the intensity of the rivalry between Google and Amazon, who have both vied in recent years for control of the e-book market. Meanwhile, Efrati and Woo note, "Amazon has taken advantage of its gains to become a big seller of online advertising, encroaching on Google, which is the No. 1 seller of online ads on its search engine and millions of other sites."
But as Nigam Arora points out over at Forbes, even if Google finds a way to counter Amazon Prime, the search giant remains vulnerable to one very specific threat: Siri, the voice-activated assistant launched this fall by Apple. (Siri is currently available only on the iPhone 4S.) At present, Arora admits, Siri appears to pluck its results only from Yelp, Wikipedia, and Wolfram Alpha.
"[I]n due course, more specialized databases will become available on Siri giving better results for search queries in a much more natural way than what Google delivers... Apple’s Siri is changing habits of the users. Searching on Google is cumbersome compared to the elegance of Siri. It makes a Google search look like a horse and buggy compared to a car. When Siri can provide the correct answer to a question quickly, who needs Google?" [/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2011/1202/Google-takes-aim-at-a-new-target-Amazon-Prime[/url]
Dunno wtf kind of service this is going to be from the description in the article but it should be interesting
By google shipping service, does it mean google physically ships the package or manages the shipping with FedEx/UPS/USPS?
This really just sounds like another Amazon... I feel like there's more than one Amazon already.. Do they expect it to be big just because it's google?
Damn that Siri thing just kinda came outa nowhere. 'Google wants to start an Amazon-like monthly service, their search engine faces competition from Siri'. Hmm okay.
Amazon is pretty pro, i love the fact that normal shipping costs like 3.99 if you don't have an account. However if you got prime the normal shipping is free or overnight is 3.99.
I've NEVER had an issue with amazon and I've used it for years now.
They will try to out do it and fail ultimately. They will then resort to trying to buy out amazon entirely.
Google tactics.
Google fucks up everything they get their hands on
[QUOTE=PX1K;33539803]They will try to out do it and fail ultimately. They will then resort to trying to buy out amazon entirely.
Google tactics.[/QUOTE]
Since when does google do that?
[QUOTE=Profanwolf;33539886]Since when does google do that?[/QUOTE]
Google video and Youtube?
[QUOTE=Lufttygger306;33539880]Google fucks up everything they get their hands on[/QUOTE]
[IMG]http://www.facepunch.com/fp/browser/chrome.png[/IMG]
[QUOTE=BrainDeath;33539916]Google video and Youtube?[/QUOTE]
Hm, that is true.
I can't say I recall any other thing like it though.
[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;33539950]and gmail[/QUOTE]
please explain... gmail is simple, powerful, and works
Why'd they bother mentioning Siri
it's not even relevant in this
[QUOTE=BaconMan_lol;33540026]please explain... gmail is simple, powerful, and works[/QUOTE]
He's saying gmail is a service google did well
[editline]2nd December 2011[/editline]
Google have this pretty neat search engine as well but it's kind of underground
This is an interesting idea if pulled off successfully. Right now companies [b]have[/b] to list products on Amazon to get Fulfilled by Amazon, in full competition with everyone else. If this is just tagged on to Google Checkout / Wallet, companies can sell integrated through their own website through Checkout / Wallet (for some people they already do), without having to keep track of another marketplace's listing. It might not be worth migrating for, but it's definitely an interesting idea.
amazon prime sounds like something out of transformers.
More competition isn't a bad thing.
[quote]Plug in the product name, in other words, and Google would make sure the product is on your doorstep in a matter of days.[/quote]
Really just sounds like a product search engine that goes one step further by acting as an intermediary - google handles payment for the item you want and they use their massive database of products and retailers to find the one that will ship it to you the fastest
or something
but having a shopping aggregate would be really cool
imagine being able to shop from tens or hundreds of different online retailers without requiring a separate account on each
if this isn't what google does, someone send me money so I can make it
[QUOTE=SilentOpp;33539512]By google shipping service, does it mean google physically ships the package or manages the shipping with FedEx/UPS/USPS?
This really just sounds like another Amazon... I feel like there's more than one Amazon already.. Do they expect it to be big just because it's google?
Damn that Siri thing just kinda came outa nowhere. 'Google wants to start an Amazon-like monthly service, their search engine faces competition from Siri'. Hmm okay.[/QUOTE]
Its funny because Siri (I think, I am not 100% sure) relies on Google.
[QUOTE=Hidole555;33539929][IMG]http://www.facepunch.com/fp/browser/chrome.png[/IMG][/QUOTE]
I mean things they buy (you know, YouTube for example)
[QUOTE=Jsm;33540791]Its funny because Siri (I think, I am not 100% sure) relies on Google.[/QUOTE]
the article mentions Siri because it [I]doesn't[/I] use Google
did you even read it?
[QUOTE=CakeMaster7;33541079]the article mentions Siri because it [I]doesn't[/I] use Google
did you even read it?[/QUOTE]
I had read on multiple other sources that it did use Google for certain things.
I misread that for a second as Optimus Prime.........to which i poured my drink down the sink.
[QUOTE=Lufttygger306;33540800]I mean things they buy (you know, YouTube for example)[/QUOTE]
Except Youtube works perfectly fine and if they hadn't bought it, it would probably have failed by this point?
So what they changed the layout again, the features they have added under than more than make up for a few hours worth of re-orientation.
I think he means how much it's sold out to corporate and media interests since the merger.
Before you could use snippets of whatever you wanted in your video and nobody cared because it was allowed under fair use provisions. Now copyright holders are free to shit all over that and force Youtube to take down any video it wants. They don't even need to have a reason, they just say to Youtube "take it down or else" and they bend over like a bitch.
Also, does anyone else think Amazon Prime sounds like the name of a Transformer?
You kind of have to do that when you're a massive company hosting content you don't own. Pissing off a few users is a fair bit better for corporate image than massive fucking lawsuits bombarding the website.
[QUOTE=Kuro.;33544089]I think he means how much it's sold out to corporate and media interests since the merger.
Before you could use snippets of whatever you wanted in your video and nobody cared because it was allowed under fair use provisions. Now copyright holders are free to shit all over that and force Youtube to take down any video it wants. They don't even need to have a reason, they just say to Youtube "take it down or else" and they bend over like a bitch.
Also, does anyone else think Amazon Prime sounds like the name of a Transformer?[/QUOTE]
Youtube would be so crappy right now if it weren't for the merger, imagine ultra lag on 720p playback (And it'd have taken ages to get 720p playback).
YouTube would've died if Google hadn't gotten it, say whatever you want about ads annoying you but YouTube has ads because it's so damn expensive to keep up
snip
[QUOTE=CakeMaster7;33545183]YouTube would've died if Google hadn't gotten it, say whatever you want about ads annoying you but YouTube has ads because it's so damn expensive to keep up[/QUOTE]
Agreed. YouTube is bloody awesome at the moment, and complaining about the ads on it is ridiculous (first world problems, eh?). Ads don't piss me off too much because I realise that running a site (especially one as large as YouTube) isn't free, and you can't 100% rely on the good will of people to donate to keep a site running (again, especially one as large as YouTube).
Hell, I'm somewhat surprised at this point that Wikipedia has been able to solely rely on donations and that they haven't had to resort to ads. I mean, I know practically everyone uses it, but I didn't realise that so many people would donate to it to keep it running. Once I start working next week and I'm able to save up some money I'm gonna make sure to give them as much as I can afford next time they run a campaign asking for donations (or during the current one, even).
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