Tag Archives: Google

Regulators Keeping Keen Eye on Google as they Purchase Motorola Mobility

Droid 4 by Motorola

Google, the web-search giant, will be carefully scrutinized by US and European regulators as their bid to purchase Motorola Mobility is approved, giving Google possession of 17,000 patents and an additional 7,500 patent applications.

The purchase price for Motorola was a cool $12.5 billion, paving the way for Google to continue to compete with its market rivals such as Apple Inc and also defend itself and other Android manufacturers in patent lawsuits.

Regulators have said they will carefully monitor Google to ensure that all patents that are crucial to the telecommunications industry would be licensed at fair prices. European antitrust authorities as well as the US Department of Justice said they will watch how the patents are used to make sure that they comply with antitrust laws.

The regulators are concerned that the patents, which are critical in making sure that the large number of communications devices on the market, which are sold by many different companies, will be compatible with each other and are licensed for a reasonable fee.

“The (Justice Department’s antitrust) division will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action to stop any anticompetitive use of SEP (standard essential patent) rights,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

The deal with Motorola gives to Google one of the largest patent libraries in the mobile phone industry. Also included in the deal are Motorola’s manufacturing operations which will give Google the ability to create its own line of smart phones.

Top Searches on Google for 2011

An Apple Everyday

At the end of each year Google releases a list of which search terms garnered the most numbers in

Steve Jobs and iPad

a variety of different categories during the previous twelve months. In the top ten list of terms with the fastest growth in technology, the top six were all related to Apple, including “iCloud,” “Osx Lion” and “iPad 2.” In the eighth position was the term “Steve Jobs.”

Rebecca Black Most Searched Term Overall

Rebecca Black

On the overall top 10 list, “Google+” came in second place. Amazingly, the only search term growing faster than “Google +” was the search for “Rebecca Black” nabbing first place, proving that ‘most’ is not always ‘best.’  Apple took control here as well; with three of the top ten spots, including “iPhone 5” taking sixth place, and “Steve Jobs” in ninth place. “iPad 2” made it into the top ten at tenth place.

Kindle Fire Most Searched for Gadget

The list of top ten fastest growing searches in the gadget category was a better representation of what really happened this past year: Getting the gold was “Kindle Fire,” while “iPhone 4S” was the second place finisher. Also placing in the top ten list for gadgets were, “Sidekick 4g,” “HP Touchpad,” “HTC Inspire,” “Palm Pre 3,” and the “HTC Thunderbolt.” These are the electronic toys that fueled the minds of consumers and filled the pockets of the electronics industry this past year.

iPhone 5…It’s Coming

The new iPhone 5 is set to make its debut with Sprint Nextel by mid-October.  Sprint’s stock recovered from near collapse on the news.  In the last year Sprint’s stock prices have been halved and so the news of iPhone 5 sales going through it has enhanced its stock valuation. The question of how this affects the larger tech market will remain to be seen.

Apple and China

Apple may be able to do what Google couldn’t and that is break into the Chinese market. Apple is currently in talks with China Mobile (CHA) and China Telecom (CHL).  These carriers would open Apple to the huge Chinese market that increase the companies worth exponentially. Apple is currently trading at 374.35 per share. The deal will also help China Telecom. The company headed, by CEO Wang Xiaochu  saw it’s profits rise 8% in the first half and the iPhone should increase them even more.

When Z Comes Before G: Zuckerberg Trumps Gates

Online Advertising Analysis

When looking at the world of online advertising, it seems it’s out with the old and in with the new. According to an article in Forbes, it’s Facebook that is now in the lead, rendering Microsoft somewhat a thing of the past. Out of the $31.3bn marketing, a staggering two-thirds is now taken up by: Google, Yahoo, AOL, Facebook and Microsoft, but it is Facebook that’s really in the lead, putting Microsoft on a lower rung of the lander.

Look No Further Than Google

When it comes to website searching, it is clear that Google is the name, enjoying three-quarters of the entire market, and, according to eMarketer research, claiming 40.8 percent “all ad dollars spent in the US.

Facebook Fortune

But of course, when looking at the real big money earners, it’s Facebook again, still increasing its profits, “substantially faster than Microsoft.” Over 600 million people are now using Facebook and while in 2009 it had 2.4 percent share in the market, by the end of this year that figure is set to rise to 7 percent, rendering it “the third largest ad-selling company in the US.”

Microsoft Momentum

But it’s not all doom and gloom for Microsoft which has definitely been responding to market changes, having “revamped its online strategy with Bing and a partnership with Yahoo!” The company now enjoys a good search position too. Its revenue growth has been pretty consistent too, “up 18.3% in 2009, 22.9% in 2010, and expected to surge 38.9% this year and 48% next year.” According to a principal analyst at eMarketer, David Hallerman this is due to Bing’s overall capacity to “deliver relevant results to searchers, as well as the company’s marketing of Bing to encourage more usage.” As well, Hallerman noted that Google is kept “on top” due to the “network effect.” In layman’s terms this means that the more people who use the search engine, the more advertisers it gets “which in turn can attract more users and so on.” Still, despite Google’s continuing success, this should not take away from Microsoft which is “gaining both search query and market share.” Ultimately, the four largest search engines have claimed a staggering 93.6 percent of the entire $14.38bn market.

SEO Takes a Ride

Suzuki Seeks Google Guidance

You wouldn’t necessarily put the two together – Suzuki and Google – just in the same way you might have gone “hmmm” the first time you were told to put peanut butter and jelly together (especially if you’re British). But somehow, just as the latter works supremely well in combination, the former might have a thing or two going for it as well.

It seems that Maruti Suzuki is going to be doing more than Googling for guidance on marketing techniques. In fact it is looking to “tie up” with the company in order to acquiesce a “more focused foray into the digital marketing space.” It won’t be restricting itself just to Google though since Suzuki is also looking into working with other “specialists” in the digital marketing field.
Suzuki is not stupid, fast recognizing that it has to respond to an eternally changing digital media world. Thus it understands the need to bring in specialist help, said the company’s marketing chief general manager, Shashank Srivastava.

Team Effort

Suzuki has thus already been working closely with Google on “search engine optimization and online reputation management initiatives,” which basically means Google is assisting the auto company in traffic keyword tracking. This enables Suzuki to thereafter respond as needed. For example if there has been a media posting (on say Facebook or Twitter) regarding the company’s services, it will be alerted and given an immediate opportunity to respond.

Marketing Surge for Suzuki

In general Maruti Suzuki has been surging forth in its marketing effort. Indeed the budget allocated to its promotion, doubled this year. It has “created social networking profiles of all its products,” with its prime hits being A-Star and Ritz since they attract the younger customers as well as netting in the most Facebook fans.

Suzuki Sells on its Own

The argument could also be made however, that the company’s cars speak for themselves. The new Suzuki Swift is even better than the one it replaced if that was possible since you probably would be hard pressed to find any complaints on that one. It is a great price and is truly able to “offer something that stands out from the comparatively bland and boring cookie-cutter crowd.” It boasts additional windscreen rake, a cool new front bumper, better angular headlights and some brand new tail light clusters.

Still, as the saying goes, you can never be too rich or too thin. Perhaps in today’s Facebook and Twitter world, you can never have too much SEO work on your product or service either.