Matt Ingram has it right again – Google sees Openness as a competitive advantage, but Google is also correct that Open Social networking and open cellular software and hardware are in the best long term interests of the internet community.
The tech blogosphere has been abuzz for several days now with Google’s message of Open Social Networking (Open Social) and Google’s gPhone / Google Phone / Android / Open Handset Alliance. Open Social will bring a very open architecture to websites and networking while Android will craete very open software and presumably unlockable and open hardware for the mobile market.
Is Google being generous? Not really – they correctly see this as a path to even greater Google profits from advertising. Google scoops up some 50% of all online advertising revenue now, and this is likely to continue until Yahoo and Microsoft get their advert-asses in gear, which does not appear to be happening anytime soon. So, while the long term consequences of openness are very unclear the short term benefits are going to go to … Open up and say it loud … GOOGLE!*
* No, I would not recommend buying GOOG at $700 per share. This pretty much anticipates a smooth transition to a Google world, which seems unlikely. The internet, after all, is not driven by rocket science … it is driven by … advertising.