In the midst of all its other morsels of juicy happenings, Google has inadvertently (or cunningly) reminded the Web of its seemingly inevitable dive into the office productivity suite realm. This time it’s a presentation product, which would be a direct nod towards Microsoft PowerPoint’s direction.
The name of the product seems to be “Presently,” which follows in the same creative-moniker vein as the Web-based word processing product Writely, which Google acquired in March of 2006.
Google’s Docs & Spreadsheets has been viewed as a growing threat to Microsoft Office. The free alternatives offered by the search engine giant have not captured the complete awe and affections of enough users to cause Microsoft to shake in their boots, but the convenience that comes with the integration of all these productivity tools is undeniable. The zero-cost to the user certainly helps, too.
A piece of code revealed this information to the blogosphere on Sunday, and though Google has remained mum on “Presently,” it is a virtual certainty that its anticipated free, Web-based productivity suite is nearing completion.
The ability to convert documents into presentations, options for themes, zoom capability, and no support for Opera were all visible in the code.
Though Google is on the offensive in the online productivity suite realm, it is seeing a potential competitor lurking in Europe, and it has at least six heads.
Vodafone, France Telecom, Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom, Hutchinson Whampoa, Telecom Italia, and Cingular are all expected to convene for talks in Barcelona next week at the annual 3GSM conference.
The reason? To consider the creation of a search engine for mobile devices that would seriously contend with the current giants named Google and Yahoo.
Money is obviously the object of desire here, according to the Telegraph, a publication based in Britain. The operators in question think that creating their own search engine would enable them to “retain a greater share of advertising revenues.”
The six mobile service companies slated to meet next week have a combined user base of 600 million worldwide, which is a significant figure.
Informa Telecoms & Media, a marketing firm, expects almost 50% of all mobile phone users across the globe to be browsing the Internet from a mobile device by 2011.
This is a fairly transparent attempt by these telecoms to take a big, early bite out of Google’s delicious pie, which does not have as strong a stranglehold on the nascent mobile search market as it does on the ordinary Internet search market.
The telecoms also have the unsavory option of forcing its subscribers to use its own proprietary mobile search engine, which could tip the scales heavily in their favor.
On the other hand, this could also be a push to forge closer relations with Google and Yahoo. It could very well be that the telecoms are trying their best to flex their muscles in hopes of scaring the big boys of search into partnering with them.
Either way, this development highlights the ever-increasing importance of the mobile game. Search, as much as gaming and any other mobile segment, holds big-time potential, especially for advertisers. However things pan out, marketers will have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.
Sources:
http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports/searchinsider/
wpn-49-20070205GoogleWorksOnPowerPointClonePresently.html
http://news.com.com/2061-10805_3-6156376.html?part=rss&tag=
2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/02/04/google-powerpoint-clone-
coming/
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/topnews/wpn-60-20070205
TelecomsToUniteAgainstGoogleYahoo.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20070205/tc_nf/49819;_ylt=
ArGK4hYiRZc0aEN1bZKcfav6VbIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNl
YwN5bnN1YmNhdA--
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