February 17th, 2010 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Analysis & Editorial | No Comments »
Google invests in fiber and wireless networks, has its own mobile OS, started selling its own phone directly and gives Mobile top priority. Yet operators will have nothing to fear according to Eric Schmidt.
The Google CEO seems to try and use the Mobile World Congress to convince operators they have nothing to fear even though Google is already offering free WiMax services and Fiber to the Home connections in some US areas. Eric explained that Google is not the right organization for such investments and will remain focused at search and business applications. The main revenue stream will remain advertising.
When it comes to search, Google noticed that in developing countries, about 50% of the queries comes from mobile phones. This means the mobile internet is developing faster compared to traditional wired connections. As so, Google will prioritize mobile development and launch new products first on mobile platforms. Schmidt explains that to continue this route to the market, operators are very important to Google. He doesn’t think operators will become dumb pipelines.
