Google

High Speed Internet is Probably None of Google’s Business

Posted on by spr1322njanszyn

There has been a lot of buzz surrounding Google’s new super speedy 1000+Mbps fiber optic internet service that has recently been introduced in Kansas City.  With Google actually delivering what they’ve promised to their customers, people are feeling optimistic about the future of American broadband speeds.  Internet service providers such as Comcast and AT&T are known for charging ridiculously high prices for bandwidth packages.  Consumers are tired of paying $60 per month for 20Mbps download speeds, and only getting 8.  So the question we are all asking is, “Why”?  Why are we paying so much, yet receiving so little?  The main issue is our second-rate infrastructure for truly high speed internet.  Countries such as Japan and South Korea offer services running at 150Mbps for $60 per month while ISPs in the United States are charging $90 to $150 per month for 50Mbps.  The lack of widespread broadband infrastructure in the United States leaves just 59% of Americans connected to broadband, while Iceland’s adoption rate is 83%.  The infrastructure that is most commonly used to deliver broadband (DSL) uses copper phone lines to deliver its data. The issue with using DSL via copper wire is that the internet speed decreases as the length of the connection increases.

The United States is slowly offering more and more fiber optic connections to consumers, but it’s still not nearly enough for the US to be a leader in broadband speeds.  With companies like AT&T and Comcast often giving customers less than what they pay for, Google decided that it was time to step in.  Now, again, we have to ask the question, “Why”?  Why does Google care so much about about Americans getting faster internet speeds, when they are not even in the infrastructure business?  Are they trying to enter this market as a long-term competitor, or are they simply trying to pressure other ISPs into offering their own customers faster internet?  Chances are, the latter.  Here’s why.  The majority of Google’s revenues comes from advertising.  In order for Google to continue increasing their ad revenue, more people need to have access to high speed internet.  The quicker that Google can show you their ads, the more revenue they’re going to earn.  Now, why would Google want to spend billions of dollars on their own fiber optic infrastructure, when they could have AT&T and Comcast spend the money instead?  They probably don’t.  What Google is doing by offering record setting high speed internet to places like Kansas City and eventually Austin, Texas and Provo, Utah, is putting pressure on the other ISPs to give their customers faster broadband speeds at a low price.

Is it possible that Google wants to run Google Fiber as a long-term business?  Sure.  But that doesn’t not mean Google is saying, “It’s our business”.  AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast are in the business of bearing the high cost of infrastructure renovation.  It doesn’t make much sense for Google to want to do the same, starting from ground-zero.

Sources:

http://investor.google.com/financial/tables.html

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/the-broadband-gap-why-is-theirs-faster/

http://www.wired.com/business/2013/04/google-fiber-not-in-your-town/

Quality of Work is Affected by Stress! What Triggers Your Stress, and How Can Employers Help?

Posted on by spr1331kbrooks

 

Like many Americans, it is natural to be bothered by a few things in your work environment.  Some people are bothered by a coworker, their salary, or even their fear of being fired.  These, and other factors, are categories of stress in one’s work environment. 

We all know that the higher we are stressed at our jobs, the higher the chances that the quality of our work can progressively decrease.  So where does this leave the quality of America’s output, as the stress levels of the workers are progressively increasing?

Harrison Interactive, of Everest College, conducted a study of stress factors at work and how much individuals are bothered by it.  This study was conducted by phone, using 100 adults, between February 21st, and March 3rd.  This study was conducted last year, also, and according to their sample size, 73% of American workers were stressed by some factor of their jobs last year.  It is no surprise that this year’s study (released earlier this week) shows that, at a number of 83%, even more American workers are stressed at their jobs.

Below is the data from the study:

 

Percentage of Stress Factors at Work for American Workers by Year
              Stress Factor Year 2012     Year 2013
Low Pay 11%     14%
Unreasonable Workload 9%     14%
Commuting 9%     11%
Annoying Co-Workers 10%     11%
Working Outside Chosen Career 8%     8%
Work-Life Balance 5%     7%
Lack of Advancement Oportunity 5%     6%
Boss 4%     N/A
Fear of Being Fired N/A     4%


Since last year, each individual factor that didn’t remain constant, increased. The top two stress factors this year are pay and an unreasonable workload. Last year pay was still one of the top two stress factors along with annoying co-workers, which increased this year, also, just not as much as the stress of an unreasonable workload.

With the quality of American output at risk, what can companies do to keep the stress level of American workers down?  My personal opinion is to start by creating a comfortable work environment.  Some companies, such as Google, do many things to keep their work environments as stress-less as possible.  Google offers many perks to its staff, such as relaxation rooms, giant slides, free meals via gourmet chefs, motorized scooters to move through the offices, the option to bring pets to work, prayer rooms, company outings, and many more!  There are also some days where the employees have to stop the work their doing, to do something fun that they enjoy.

 

 

If all companies headed towards creating a relaxed environment, the stress levels of employees would decrease, increasing the quality of their work. Because pay has consistently been the number one stress factor of American workers, employers should consider giving raises to the well-deserving employees. Keeping employees as stress-less as possible can be considered as an investment in the increased quality of the employees’ work.

Because commuting is another high factor, companies should also consider parking perks for employees, where they can park for free in a company parking lot. Businesses can also consider a program with their city’s transit services, where the employees can receive discounts on bus and train passes.

 

 

 

Sources:

Forbes- http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/04/09/stressed-out-at-work-its-getting-worse-study-shows/

Chicago Tribune- http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-08-26/business/ct-biz-0827-workplace-stress-20120827_1_workplace-stress-annoying-co-workers-everest-college

Global Staff- http://globolstaff.com/the-perks-of-working-at-google.html

 

High-Speed Internet: Is it Still High-Speed?

Posted on by spr1311pfudala

This past week Google announced that they are expanding Google Fiber to Austin, Texas. Google Fiber is Google’s version of high-speed Internet, which can download at up to 1000 Mb per second, and digital cable television service. This is 100 times faster than any other Internet provider. Google Fiber also gives you one terabyte of storage, which can be used to record up to eight HD TV shows simultaneously. Google provides you with a brand new Nexus 7, that you use as a remote to control your TV.

Google Fiber is currently only being provided in Kansas City, KS and Kansas City, MO. Future cities that will have Google Fiber are Westwood, KS, Westwood Hills, KS, Mission Woods, KS, Kansas City North, MO, and Kansas City South, MO. Google offers three prices for Google Fiber:

Google Fiber Network Box
  • Gigabit + TV: $120/month ($300 construction fee waived)
  • Gigabit Internet: $70/month ($300 construction fee waived)
  • Free Internet (5 Mb): $0/month (for at least seven years) + $300 construction fee

These higher Internet speeds would eliminate those irritating YouTube buffers and would speed up downloading/uploading files. However, are the benefits of Google’s high-speed Internet worth the cost? It is estimated that it cost Google $11 billion to install Google Fiber nationwide, 20 million homes. That comes out to roughly $550 per home. With Google waiving the $300 construction fee, it would take five monthly payments of the highest-priced service, Gigabit + TV, to pay for the installation of Google Fiber to a home. Google would not start making a profit until five months after installing the service to a home. That is a long time to make a profit. This could prevent expansion to other cities.

In order to receive support from city politicians and residents, Google will install Google Fiber to public institutions for free. Hospitals, schools, community centers, and libraries will get Google Fiber installed for free. The rollout of Google Fiber also creates jobs in the Austin area and creates economic growth.

But is Google Fiber really necessary? The current U.S. average Internet speed is 7.2 Mb per second. While 7.2 Mb is not ultra-fast, it is still quite fast. Should Google not be focusing on expanding Internet access globally? Google should focus their Internet operations strategy on providing access to areas where it does not exist. We can wait for Google Fiber until everyone has access to the Internet first.

Should Google be waiving the $300 construction fee? Is this a smart way to gain customers or is Google only increasing its own expenses? Why is Google only expanding Google Fiber from town to town and not expanding nationally at one time? How are other Internet service providers going to compete with Google Fiber and its amazingly fast speed? What would you do with download speeds of up to 1000 Mb per second? Overall, does Google have good product strategy and project management in regards to the rollout of Google Fiber?

Sources

Analyst: Google Will Spend $84M Building Out KC’s Fiber Network To 149K Homes; $11B If It Went Nationwide: http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/08/google-fiber-cost-estimate/

Austin Next City for Ultra-fast Google Fiber: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2013-04-09/austin-expected-to-be-next-stop-for-google-fiber

Google Fiber: https://fiber.google.com/about/

Google Fiber Expands TV, Internet to Austin, Texas: http://www.abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2013/04/google-fiber-expands-tv-internet-to-austin-texas

Residents and Businesses Excited for Possibilities Google Fiber Brings: http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/austin/residents-excited-for-possibilities-google-fiber-brings

US Internet Speed Lags Behind S. Korea, Latvia: http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/science_tech/us-internet-speed-lags-behind-s-korea-latvia

 

Got Maps?

Posted on by w13lewis

I know, I know… Many of us in the Business world are sick of talking about, thinking about, and reviewing how good Apple is doing. My CEO says we need to be more like Apple, be the market leaders, innovators… like Steve Jobs. So it is to my pleasant surprise, when an opportunity comes up to talk about Apple’s mistakes, I don’t mind going into detail.

When the first iPhone premiered, it was not Apple’s strategy to make a GPS, nor an infinitely vast search engine. No, their goal was simple; make a phone that worked, was easy and intuitive to use, and make it look amazing. On every account Apple achieved what they set out to accomplish  When they opened the app store, they revolutionized mobile computing. They changed the way software companies could make money on mobile. Instead of tiny banner adds at the bottom of your mobile web browser, you could buy an app that was worth the dollar. One software publisher was there first, Google. Google brought directions and navigation to Apple’s iPhone. Apple liked it, so it was installed by default. It was simple, easy to use, and it worked wonderfully.

At some point in the last few years, Apple has started to control the App space more stringently. They’ve frequently cited security or legal reasons as to why they would deny a software publisher’s right to sell on the online mobile store. Strangely, with the release of the latest phone (iPhone 5) and the newest operating system (iOS 6) they denied Google the ability to publish the Google Maps App (which was free to download and install), and instead released their own version of the Maps App which was installed by default.

In an uncharacteristic move by Apple. The Apple Maps App was downright awful.  It was unpolished,  difficult to use, often sporting inaccurate or inefficient directions to your destination. If you were so lucky to use it on the new iPhone 5, you have turn-by-turn navigation with a friendly voice who would sometimes get you lost. In fact, the navigation of the new app  was so bad that caused a few incidents, even causing Australia to issue a Public Service Announcement to not obey Apple Maps directions as they could be dangerous.

This week, Apple effectively conceded defeat and allowed Google to once again publish Google Maps to the App Store. Within days, Google Maps became the most downloaded App in App Store history. Indicating both that Apple’s Map application was rubbish and that Google’s Map App did not represent a major threat to Apple’s primary business strategy.

So here’s the key question, if Google and Apple are direct competitors, why would they let Google bring their Map App back? If they’re not directly competing against each other, why ever remove Google Maps in the first place? It is possible that Apple thought they could push Google out, and gain market share. Instead, they upset a huge core of their customers who are now delighted that Apple brought back the real Maps App.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/dec/10/apple-maps-life-threatening-australian-police?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialmedia&utm_campaign=gadgetlabclickthru

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/dec/13/google-maps-iphone-app-downloaded

The Google Ceiling

Posted on by w13michael

Google has a problem.  Google’s problem is that for all their variety of products, their only revenue stream of consequence is advertising.  And for all of the fancy ideas and products they throw at the market, it appears that unless they can take back the mobile handset market with their Motorola purchase (which they do not appear to be positioning themselves to do), advertising is going to be the primary revenue stream for Google for a long time to come.

Google has a business model problem, and the cornerstone of this problem is the fact that while Google is in the advertising market, it has outgrown the market.  In the early years, their growth was fueled by the rapid growth in electronic commerce, and the fact that traditional advertising was not able to drive electronic commerce.  Since then the market has stabilized and Google is the established leader in electronic advertising, with the traditional channels still maintaining print, outdoor, television and other media channels.  If it can be reasonably assumed that the largest growth in electronic commerce is behind us and that the current landscape will be increasingly more mobile where Google has lower market share, Google has limited potential for continued growth in advertising.

Google’s revenue is almost entirely in advertising, and they don’t appear to be branching out any time soon.

For all its searching (and finding) adjacent markets, it appears they only make halfhearted attempts at monetizing these markets.  Take for example the ability to perform mathematics and graphing functions through their search engine.  Before Google entered, WolframAlpha provided this capability through free trials followed by premium memberships which have additional flexibility and capabilities.  However, Google appears to have entered only for the purpose of  limiting the revenue potential of a minor competitor, if WolframAlpha can even be called this.

Meanwhile, Apple and Amazon have established themselves with business models that, while very different from Google, flank and de-position the Google business model.  Apple has built a successful model of obtaining revenue from software, hardware, services, as well as content which Google has not been able to replicate quickly enough.  Not only this, but Apple has clearly been moving away from Google in all elements of their operations, recently even taking Google Maps from their mobile devices – clearly in an effort to eliminate the potential for advertising revenue through popular Apple devices.  Likewise, Amazon has built a successful model entirely based on selling products and online content; if Amazon is the premier internet source for products and content, they also control the advertising of the content and Google is again left out of the picture.

Google needs a 2.0 strategy in order to continue their growth.  This strategy must appreciate, but not limit itself to their advertising market strengths.  This strategy must not simply copy the strategy of Apple, but must provide differentiated value in order to become a significant source of revenue.

Is Apple losing its mojo?

Posted on by f1213nshah

Apple has been at the top of its game for over ten years now. Apple has had great success with its invention and especially with the Iphone. The Iphone was the top selling phone each year that it came out.  Even though it’s been the top selling phone for years, Google’s Android platform is starting to make its way up. According to recent polls and editorials, the Iphone is starting to slip away and more people are starting to prefer Google’s Android platform.

  • The Android platform now accounts for 75% of the smartphone market, which is up from its last quarter’s 68%. Apple’s Iphone dropped from being 17% of the market to 15%. This shows us that people are slowly starting to make the switch from an Iphone to phones with an Android operating system.
  • Apple is known for having loyal customers. Each year there newly innovative Iphone hits the top of consumers’ wish list. It seems like that is starting to change. According to Strategy Analytics 88% of U.S Iphone users said they would stay with the IOS for their next smartphone. That number has dropped from 93% from the previous year. In Europe the numbers dropped from 88% to 75%. This shows that people all around the world are starting to switch from IOS to another operating system.

There must be a reason why Apple fans are starting to slowly switch to Android phones. A big problem that Apple ran into was with the quality of its newest Iphone the Iphone 5. There were many complaints by consumers that there new Iphone 5 came out of the box with scratches or dents. Apple is known for making top quality products, and to produce thousands of Iphone 5 with quality defects is unacceptable. There were reports that this was due to the high demand and that they could not be made in time. It seems like Apple was choosing quantity over quality.

Is Apple starting to lose its touch? Do you think that Apple will be able to recover from the bad rep it got for the quality issues with the Iphone 5?

http://news.yahoo.com/4-signs-iphone-no-longer-smartphone-king-103200005.html

 

 

 

Piracy – Killing the Mobile App Industry

Posted on by f1213asiddiqui

 

There are millions of people who download paid-for mobile apps for free. It has made a big impact on major companies such as Apple and Google. The article talks about a popular app that many of you probably heard of called Plague. Plague is a game that lets players infect a virtual world with pathogens. Within days of releasing the game to the Apple app store, hackers made it available online for free. Up to 35% of the game’s downloads have been illegal, but the game has gotten 1.6 million paid downloads. Had those illegal downloads been paid for, the app would of generated $500,000 more.

There is an obvious issue in pirating when it comes to music, movies, and video games, and now pirates have turned to the app industry, making a significant dent in mobile-app store sales. There are many ways to steal an app such as copying its code and publishing it on an online forum or legitimate app store. Sales would actually be 20% – 50% higher if it weren’t for illegal downloads.

Google, Apple, and others have been increasing security of their app stores by using process improvement, as discussed in class. Google started offering encryption keys along with paid apps to verify the app is being used on the device it was paid for. Many new game publishers are paying for anti-tampering tools to alert developers if hackers are trying to modify an app to steal it. The tools can also prevent the apps from working properly or redirect the user to Apple’s app store.

The majority of app developers do not use anti-piracy tools besides basic ones provided by the stores that sell their apps. It seems to me that it’s not worth it for most developers because some tools will make users go through extra verification steps, making apps more difficult to download and use.  A lot of developers are using a freemium approach, where they have ads on the app for the customers who do not want to purchase it, and ad-free version for those who do purchase it. Also, the people who download the apps illegally will have the ads version.

The developer of Plague says that he “hopes to convert pirates into paying customers by luring them with new features and updates.” In my opinion, I do not think that it will make a major impact by doing that, but it will definitely help a little bit. The article also states that piracy helps promote marketing and advertising for app developers. Overall, piracy has a big impact on the $10 billion dollar app industry

Do you think developers should invest more money to eliminate piracy?

Does piracy help promote marketing and advertising?

Do you think by adding new features and updates to apps, it will help decrease piracy?

 

Let me know how you guys feel about the topic. Here is the link to the article: 

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-01/piracy-cuts-into-paid-app-sales#r=nav-r-story

Samsung to set out the next big thing?!

Posted on by f1232ali

This month has been filled with announcements including the new iPad mini made earlier this Tuesday, followed by Samsung on Wednesday, and Window’s 8 unveiling with Surface RT tablets on Thursday. With the holiday season around the corner, Google is expected to launch the Samsung 10 tablet and the LG Nexus smartphone next week. With Samsung becoming the closest competitor next to Apple with their latest product in the market, the Galaxy S3 has become a great success in the smartphone market.

In the ongoing legal issue between Apple and Samsung, Apple is expected to switch from using the A-series SoCs to TMSC, Taiwanese-based semiconductor firm which are used a lot on Android products. Samsung had originally manufactured the chip but didn’t get the chance to implement it into any of their products. I guess that means in the near future, Apple apps are going to look like Android widgets, so we are expecting to see changes in the future with our iphones and ipads. As Apple might be going downhill soon, Samsung on the other hand continues to rise in innovation. With Korea being the leading world in technology, Samsung puts amazing designs to make their products appealing to consumers. Not to mention, their graphics are better than the iPad 3, and apps are faster and can multitask a lot faster on the current Galaxy tablet as shown on one of their ads, you would see a woman turning over to the Galaxy tablet from the iPad. With all these numerous technologies emerging today, do you think Samsung will someday become the leading company in technology following the success of the Galaxy line?

 

 

Internet Too Slow? Google Says: Get up to Speed!

Posted on by f1212mgarcia

We live in an era in which information is sent and received at amazing speeds. However, one company has chosen to challenge today’s widely accepted internet speeds and has chosen to come up with a product that leaves other internet service providers in the dust. Google, has recently introduced their new form of internet called “Google Fiber”, and although it has not been introduced to a wide market it has had great success so far in their test location of Kansas City, MO. As with any other products that Google introduces, there has been quite a high demand for their new service. However, with a product like Google’s, how much exactly will their new product cost and will it be able to keep up with current market demand and current market prices? The answer however, is that Google’s new product will not only be just as costly as today’s Internet Service Providers, but they are also guaranteeing to be 100 times faster than current internet speeds. This currently means that loading and streaming time will suffer zero to no buffer time which is something that many Internet providers seem to frustrate their customers with. However, how exactly is Google setting up their prices in comparison to their internet speeds?  As explained by Google:

  • A one -time $300 Fiber install fee  and receive a  guaranteed Internet service for 7 years (No additional fees)
  • Waive the $300 , and it’s $70 per month for the super-fast Internet service (one gigabit upload & download; no data caps)
  • Top tier is $120 per month

As discussed in class, there are many different challenges for a company to break through barriers in a market. However, with Porter’s barriers to entry in mind, it seems that Google is the one raising the bar for all the other Internet Service Providers. With their new product being introduced and starting to become demanded by larger markets, it is not long before Google and their new internet service can take over and dominate the internet market. But what exactly is making Google’s new internet so special and so highly demanded? Is it simply because they are providing a brand new service that has higher quality fibers or simply because they are slow to release their product? It is without a doubt that Google’s new product may very well become the new standard, but how exactly will they be able to convince all the existing Internet Service Provider’s to change their entire system, for a higher quality data cable? Google is not only trying to raise the bar for all the other companies, but it seems that Google may very well be trying to drive out some of these companies as well.

http://business.time.com/2012/09/14/with-google-fiber-search-giant-issues-public-challenge-get-up-to-speed/