Amazon to Take on Google? 196
KRck writes "Looks like Amazon is going to jump into the search engine business and try and compete directly with Google, by building a new company A9 which they hope to launch in October."
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Amazon to Take on Google?
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Thank goodness! (Score:5, Insightful)
Unlike Google, A9 isn't trying to develop an all-purpose search engine that indexes billions of Web pages. The startup instead is zeroing on a one of search engines' sweet spots -- e-commerce.
"Sweet spot" for advertisers... "Crap that clutters my search" to me. Google has done a pretty good job of keeping the e-commerce sites out of my listings, and as a result, I really do click on the sponsored links when they're relevant. But they've been slipping... a search on Electric Fencing [google.com] returns mostly people selling the product, but adding keywords (Electric Fencing Installation) helps.
More articley goodness:
As more consumers have become comfortable with the Internet, a growing number are using search engines to review products and compare prices.
Review != Purchase. When I look up a product, I'm usually looking for complaints. Before I signed up for Netflix, I examined the complaints and decided I could live with the reported problems. I decided against GreenCine [greencine.com] in part because subscribers report low supplies despite an excellent selection. You get the idea.
Hopefully, if Amazon focuses on the e-commerce angle, Google can focus on the information angle. I'll go to Google to find out how to install an electric fence, and perhaps I'll go to Amazon to find an electric fence supplier. But more likely, I'll click on a Google AdWords partner.
Google's biggest problem right now: Crapflooding, which will continue to be a whack-a-mole problem on any search site. When I do a search on Toothpick Bridge [google.com] for my daughter's science class and see a URL of "www.hdlac.org/mom-daughter-incest.htm", I know that the spammer/scammer community has scored again.
Why it won't work: (Score:5, Insightful)
This is the core of the matter, and why google is so successful. We believe that they are unbiased, and therefore trust their results.
Incidently, this is why msn search will fail as well.
All hail the king of searches: Google.
Well, are you, punk? (Score:5, Insightful)
Conflict of interest? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Competition is always a welcoming news (Score:3, Insightful)
Unless your name starts with "M" and ends with "icrosoft."
Re:What's next? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm actually talking about the hype about everybody, "Taking on Google." It's just silly. The CNN article says that Amazon is specifically not targetting Googles general search market, but to perform niche ecommerce searches. It's just this celebrity death match style coverage that is like beating a dead horse.
Re:Competition is always a welcoming news (Score:4, Insightful)
Good luck to Amazon, be interested to see how this pans out.
Remember when... (Score:5, Insightful)
And Amazon sold books, and did it well?
Then somebody said "Portals" and they became "portals".
Then somebody said "Auction" and they all followed e-bay.
Then somebody said "e-commerce" and they all started selling everything.
And books became Amazon's sideline to their patents on everything but the color of money.
And their site became a Navigational Nightmare(TM) (patent pending).
Now everybody wants to be a search engine again.
The reason Google is succesful is because it does it gives people the information they want, and stays the hell out of their way.
So they sell books... (Score:3, Insightful)
Not to say that a better search engine won't eventually come along, but I don't see why anyone is going to switch when the incumbent site is about as good as most people will need.
Excuse me, I have to go Amazon... er... A9... for more information, now...
Nope, sorry. Doesn't work. ^^;
typosquatters set scrambling... (Score:3, Insightful)
Not my experience (Score:3, Insightful)
Recently, I don't think that's true anymore. At least from my experience. If you search for anything remotely similar to a product or service, you may run into special spam link farms for the search terms you looked for in the top ten of the Google results. Sure, you can report these with the 'Dissatisfied?' link at the bottom, but that's tedious, probably not too many people use that, because it doesn't seem to improve the system much. Over all, Google isn't working as well as it used to. Simply because some SEO people have figured how to manipulate it. It's sad, but as with spam, the fight has to continue.
Froogle: Best way to find the best price (Score:5, Insightful)
Froogle, Froogle.google.com [google.com] does NOT compete with Amazon. It tends to put Amazon out of business. Froogle is the best way to find the price and vendor of anything you want to buy. Google makes no money from showing the vendors and prices, only from the ads on the right side.
This is futile (Score:3, Insightful)
Will Google even need to adapt? (Score:3, Insightful)
No business is bulletproof, but Google right now is one of the strongest internet names. People like Google because there's only as much whiz-bang as you need, and it's as effective as internet searching as been for the last few years. The main page weighs in, IIRC, at under 13K of bandwidth. Far quicker and less obtrusive than MSN or Amazon. Even on a dial-up connection it's almost instantaneous. You don't get any pop-ups on Google, and for those poor souls unfortunate enough to still use IE, Google even offers a tool that will stop pop-ups. The tools that they offer are useful and unobtrusive. They don't take over or alter your sysem, such as pretty much anything from Microsoft. (And I doubt Google DRM Software is going to be among next year's offered downloads. Unlike Windows Media Player...)
And Google has street smarts that you can't get from any boardroom. For example, news.google.com was a weekend project that a couple of employees threw together. And it got a lot of competitors' attention when they saw just how good a job they did. They're always adapting. I've seen many quotes from discussions long past show up again on message boards, and they're pulled from the Google Groups services.
While Google may not be a utopia, it's got what it needs to stand up to the MS and Amazon assault. A strong base, a smart and adaptable workforce, and great public recognition. The market is adapting to Google, not the other way around. Considering they don't like to sit on their past achievements too much, I think they'll hold up fine.
Re:This is futile (Score:4, Insightful)
I think that Google could be beaten, but not by Amazon or Microsoft. The problem is that a search engine has to be perceived as neutral.
A little guy with much better technology could make headway.
Also, the likelihood of Google screwing up will increase greatly once they go public. Investors will demand more return, and management might eventually do something that blows the company reputation.
Re:What's next? (Score:2, Insightful)
But why would anyone think that Amazon could be trusted for e-commerce searches? If someone is selling a product for a lower price than Amazon is, do you really think that their search engine will point me there?
Re:This is futile (Score:3, Insightful)
RE: Absolutely! (Score:5, Insightful)
It's *really* about focusing intensely on one particular service or offering that a decent-sized group of users think is useful.
If you're going to sell books, be the biggest, best-priced and most convenient bookseller on the net - but DON'T try to be a patent-monger, or an auction mega-site, or a toy store, or anything else unrelated!
As you said, Google is so highly regarded because it was always designed, from day one, to be a search engine - and to do the best possible job of indexing pages. They've added a lot of features - but they're all related to their core functionality (such as the ability to calculate math equations that are entered in the search field, or the ability to do phone number lookups). You use their site when you seek answers to something, and it tries to provide those answers (whether by directly giving you results, or pointing you to sites that have the information you seek).
eBay has, in my opinion, also been the only truly successful online auction site because they've kept their focus on that one area without straying. Everyone who wants to "be the next eBay" or your "eBay alternative" (aka. Yahoo auctions) can't quite penetrate that market, because they've all tried it as a side offering. Folks think "Hmm... Why use this auction link off this e-commerce or search engine site, when I can use eBay, that's completely dedicated to auctions? More people will see my listings that way, and there's likely to be more of the stuff I'm looking to buy."
Capital investment as a way to explain losses (Score:2, Insightful)
Alternately, they don't want to ever post a profit 'cause then market expectations are that once they start making a profit they should always make a profit and it makes capital investment all that much more difficult. At least that was what management at Metricom (the Ricochet folks) claimed was their strategy, before they went under.
Re:What's next? (Score:2, Insightful)
It wasn't the big bad Media that turned it into a conflict. It was Slashdot, the supposed anti-media. The CNN article had it right. Read the article.
Re:Why it won't work: (Score:3, Insightful)
Why not? Your proposition doesn't even make sense. In fact, Amazon has shown that they are quite willing to give honest results, even when doing so may result in them losing the sale themselves. (Although they do still get a small cut of these other sales.)
Example:
1) Amazon lists used books on the same page as thier new ones.
2) I was looking for a digital camera this morning. In additon to the price from Amazon directly for the camer I was looking for, they include on the same main page for that camera, ads (including prices) for the same camera from three competitive vendors, including J&R and Ritz Camera.
Not only is there NO evidence of your assertion, there IS substantial evidence to the contrary.