Google, Government, GMail, GBuy, Gee Whiz

First things, first. The third episode of Route 56 is out and you can either listen to it or subscribe to it here. Or you can subscribe via Itunes or DigitalPodcast or PodcastAlley or Shoutstream.

This particular episode has been called by my friends, the best one ever, but then again, they ARE my friends. So what are they going to say? It sucks? I doubt it highly, but it IS good. I've got an interview with SAP's SVP of CRM for the Americas, Pat Bakey who answers some both tough questions, some questions which will help you with your intel, and an occasional softball or two and one sorta hardball. He does it with aplomb, courtesy and a wide ranging knowledge of CRM and its future, showing that SAP made a wide choice in hiring this Siebel veteran.

Google Doth Protest Too Much, Methinks

Actually, the subject of this blog entry is not the podcast, though I would appreciate it if you would check it out. The subject of my newest both concern and source of fascination when it comes to the new world customer is Google - once again. Sorry to stay on this case, but they are doing things that I find both compelling and yet repulsive. A source of great confusion indeed.

In the last two weeks, Google announced three products/services/whatever its called these days:

• Google Spreadsheet
• Google U.S. Government Search
• Google GBuy - a Google web payment system

  What concerns me about this is their conciliatory, somewhat condescending statements about all of them:

  • Google spreadsheet -  "I see them as complementary," Jonathan Rochelle, the product manager for Google Spreadsheets told "The Wall Street Journal," referring to Google Spreadsheets and Excel. "I know a lot of users will use both."
  • Google Government Search - "We are not trying to compete with FirstGov in any way," said Kevin Gough, product manager of Google U.S. Government Search, "We actually think they are complementary offerings. FirstGov has a directory structure. Google U.S. Government Search focuses on Google's core strength, which is search."
  • Gbuy - RBC analyst Jordan Rohan - "GBuy looks to be a direct competitor to PayPal's "off-eBay" init
    iative..." Eric Schmidt, Google CEO - "It's not like PayPal at all," Schmidt said when asked about GBuy during a New York meeting hosted by the business magazine Portfolio.

  I don't think I've ever seen a company so aggressively not-compete with everyone else in the marketplace - except perhaps Microsoft years ago - though Microsoft never particularly tried the "good citizens and cooperative buddies" mode. They were always straighforward about their killer instinct. False humility doesn't go well with arrogance.

  All that said, oddly, I still love what Google has been doing and will continue to do. Their level of innovation is amazing. Their interest in being omnipresent remarkable. Their technological prowess incredible. But their sense of irony is just not very subtle. Its hard to say that "we're just being little ol' friendly Google, trying to complement the bigger guys" when according to Monsieur Brin, Google's not taking the "principled approach" to business at this time.