Howdy, I'm MG Siegler. I’m a general partner at Google Ventures and a columnist for TechCrunch. This is where I collect things.
Some selected works. Some haikus. Some investments. Ask away.
Showing 548 posts tagged google
Charles Cooper for CNET:
Considering the raging debate over the true performance of Google+, you might have figured Google’s management would have carved out at least a couple of minutes to tout its social network during the company’s Q4 2012 conference call. Especially in the aftermath of Facebook’s recent debut of Graph Search.
And you would have been wrong.
Say no more. Literally.
Tim Carmody on Google’s earnings:
Motorola Mobility poses a different problem. Last quarter, Google’s cellphone and tablet division posted an operational loss of $523 million. This quarter’s loss of $353 million shows a modest quarter-over-quarter improvement, but things still aren’t healthy by any means. (Last year, in the same quarter, an independent Motorola’s mobile division posted a loss of $70 million.)
And:
Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette pointed out that Google hadn’t yet the chance to put its own imprint on Motorola’s mobile line. “We are really 180 days into this business,” he said, largely repeating the same mantra that he offered last quarter. Then, however, Motorola was in its “first 150 days.” (Pichette’s arithmetic here is elusive. For the record, it’s been 245 days since the Motorola acquisition closed.)
All fair for a new business perhaps. But this is a company Google acquired for $12.5 billion (really now more like $13 billion). Sure patents, patents, patents — but well, yeah.
I continue to believe former Motorola head Sanjay Jha was a wizard for pulling off this deal.
Steve Kovach for Business Insider:
That means (if we’re being conservative) at least 80% of all smartphones sold through AT&T, the second largest carrier in the U.S., were iPhones. The rest were Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, or whatever else is out there.
Now let’s look at Verizon’s earnings last earnings report for the same quarter. Verizon, the largest carrier in the U.S., sold 6.2 million iPhones out of a total of 9.8 million smartphones. That means the iPhone made up 63% of Verizon’s smartphone sales.
This is not some survey of a few thousand people. This is not data extrapolated from ad impressions across a vague number of devices. This is sales data. It does not lie. On the two largest carriers in the U.S., the iPhone dominated last quarter.
You can argue about whether that’s important or not. But clearly, when Apple launches a new iPhone in the U.S., it sells a lot of new iPhones — even more than the plethora of Android options combined. (A trend which has continued for a few years now.) Which suggests one of two things:
1) People buy an insane amount of iPhones in the U.S. because of the subsidy model. Verizon and AT&T (and now Sprint, and it looks like T-Mobile soon as well) allow you to get one for $299, $199, $99, or free. Those price points matter a lot, and they would matter in other countries as well.
2) The U.S. market is just different. For some reason, consumers in the U.S. want iPhones even when those in other countries do not as much.
If the first point is indeed the case, it’s a hell of argument for a lower priced phone without subsidy. It’s suggests that it’s not that people don’t want iPhones, it’s that they want new iPhones at good prices.
The data is also a pretty good argument as to why Apple may want to speed up the release cycle of new iPhones. (Though such a move would undoubtedly dampen the yearly “bulge” in sales.)
Fascinating Business Cards Of The World’s Most Famous People
My god, it even has a watermark.
Probably safe to largely throw away most of this piece as it’s by Scott Cleland, a known anti-Google lobbyist (often on behalf of Microsoft). But, there is at least one interesting thought:
Only some professional investors are aware that Microsoft has cumulatively lost about $15 billion trying to compete against Google in search advertising. Microsoft loses about $2 billion a year in search, while Google profits $25 billion gross a year in search. Not only are Google’s search revenues ten times bigger than Microsoft’s they are growing faster too, meaning Microsoft is falling further behind.
I’ve long been fascinated by Microsoft’s Bing loses. From a pure business perspective, it must be one of the worst run operations ever. But clearly, Microsoft just doesn’t care, they’re going after Google, costs be damned.
And while the new Facebook Graph Search deal may prove to be a huge boon, Cleland’s thought is fascinating: Microsoft simply shutting down Bing may do far more to hurt Google than all the billions they’ve wasted on it. Google saying “competition is only a click away” would have a lot less weight behind it.
Thus continuing the trend of people loving the “dogfood” when they’re inside a company, and throwing it up when they’re out.
Most of the ones I notice (both with people I know and those in public) are former Microsoft employees. People leave and immediately switch to Macs, iPhones, iPads, Google Docs, Chrome, Android devices, etc.
What I never see is people leaving Apple and switching to other products — PCs, Android devices, Windows Phone, etc. I’m sure there are some out there, but for the most part ex-Apple employees seem to remain “loyal” to the brand. Read into that what you will.
“Google has not yet shown they are truly serious. From the outside, they are an advertising company.”
Julia White, a general manager in Microsoft’s business division speaking to The New York Times on the threat of Google Apps.
This quote will probably come back to bite her and Microsoft (as usual). While all eyes are on Microsoft’s fumblings within the Windows Division, far more important is the Office Division, since it’s the company’s largest money-maker. Conventional wisdom holds that this is and will remain a stronghold for Microsoft. But as Quentin Hardy suggests, the walls are showing some very real signs of weakness.
I haven’t used Office in years. I use Google Apps on a daily basis. I can’t see kids asking their parents to buy them Office for their new MacBooks. Maybe some get it bundled with PCs, but will any of them use it on a regular basis? Whoever wins the colleges will win the war. And I wouldn’t bet against Google in the long term.
For the 20th (!) year in a row, IBM was granted the most patents in 2012.
Google and Apple were both up significantly over previous years — but only came in at numbers 21 and 22 on the list, respectively. Each were granted about 5,000 (!) fewer patents than IBM for the year.
And guess who was number two on the list? The fifth horseman.
I randomly said “What?” into Google on the Nexus 4. This was the first result. Perfect.
High-res
Intruder.
Ladies and gentleman, I present to you 3,000 words in which Danny Sullivan talks himself into something, then talks himself out of it, then back into it.
Seriously, why does Google Maps not work on your Windows Phone? I don’t know, why doesn’t it work on your graphing calculator or your espresso machine?
It’s simple really. Google made sure Maps worked on Windows Mobile because it had market share. Google doesn’t give a shit about Maps working on Windows Phone because it doesn’t. Any questions? Consult Sullivan’s post and then come back here again.
High-res
Using Google’s latest design language, this ‘Google Time’ concept by Adrian Maciburko is a nice idea for a super-simple take on the kinds of features such a device might have, including voice and touch interfaces. (via Look at how great a Google smartwatch could be - The Next Web)
How awesome would this be? A watch used to search for anything. A device where voice search truly makes sense.
Compelling stuff from Tony Romm for Politico:
To start, Google quickly hired 12 lobbying firms, a decision that contributed to the estimated $25 million the company, along with its purchased subsidiary, Motorola Mobility, accumulated to influence Washington decision makers over the life of the FTC’s probe.
I know this may come as a shock to some of you, but I’m mainly on Google’s side here and I think the FTC was right not to go down the antitrust road — at least not yet. Google wins search because it’s the best at it. I think companies like Yelp have some legitimate gripes. But others like Microsoft, which has its own search engine, should compete by making a better product, not by hoping the government goes after Google.
Also, this is hardly the last we’re going to hear of this. Just because the FTC isn’t pursuing antitrust action against Google right now, it doesn’t mean they can’t in six months or a year or two years. This will all be looked into again and again and again. And it should be, as Google keeps getting into more and more businesses. Their search monopoly is legit, but it shouldn’t be allowed to unnaturally bolster other products that aren’t worthy — cough Google+ cough.
