The Wall Street Journal reported that Garmin and TomTom stocks plunged after the announcement. The first smart phone to feature this new navigation software is the Motorola Droid, which was unveiled on October, 28th. Along with driving directions, additional information and business listings from Google Maps will be shown – providing business opportunities for advertising.
This brings up two considerations to my mind. The first is a question, and it’s not the first time I ask this question to myself: can really advertisement provide such a powerful and sustainable revenue stream, to support a complex service as this one – and many other ones, given for free by Google? Someone pointed out the “less than free” business model, in Google’s business relation with carriers and manufacturers (but, as in the Blogspot+Adsense combination, for private citizens/bloggers as well). Is it really space for infinite growth? My belief is that it will not come to an end, but alternate revenue streams will be created (perhaps with new categories beginning to massively advertise their services), and different kinds of seller/customer relations will emerge.
The second consideration is about a deep sense of admiration, for the remarkable speed that Google shows in delivering innovation. And the idea of offering ads together with driving directions is not one that makes you jump on your chair, but it fits so beautifully in a larger picture (Maps, the Android operating system,…) and in the overall context that I cannot help to feel impressed.
