グーグル、エンタープライズ向けに「Solutions Marketplace」を開設
文：Martin LaMonica（CNET News.com）
翻訳校正：湯木進悟
2008/04/11 07:43
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ただ単に企業向けにアプリケーションや検索アプライアンスを提供するのみならず、新たに「Google Apps」向けにサードパーティー製のアドオン製品をリストアップしたサイトを提供するべく、Googleは米国時間4月9日、「Solutions Marketplace」を立ち上げた。
Solutions Marketplaceでは、ソフトウェア開発者が自作アプリケーションを、企業の顧客が閲覧できるようにカタログ形式で投稿できる。例えば、現時点でSolutions Marketplaceに掲載されているリストには、Google Appsのカスタマイズを行うオフショア開発サービスや、中小企業向けのコンサルティングサービスなどがある。
今回のGoogleの発表は、ちょうどMicrosoftが「Office」製品向けのサードパーティー製アドオン製品を推奨するシステムを構築してきたように、サードパーティーの製品開発や販売を支援することで、Google Appsを利用する顧客を増加させようという思惑が関係している。
さらにこの動きは、Salesforce.comが、同社のホスティングアプリケーション向けに「AppExchange」で成し遂げてきたことに対応している。
GoogleとSalesforceは、SalesforceがGoogle Appsの再販を行うパートナーシップの締結発表を、米国時間4月7日に噂されたばかりである。
Solutions Marketplace上では、SalesforceがAppExchangeで行っているように、Googleが他社製アプリケーションのホスティングを行うことまではしない。むしろ各企業は、独自のリストを作成して、顧客がそのレビューを検討できるようになっている。
TechCrunchによると、Solutions Marketplaceは、これまでのシンプルな「Enterprise Solutions Gallery」に代わるものとなる。
Google Enterpriseのオフィシャルブログ上で、Google Enterprise向けにGoogle Appsパートナー企業を先導してきたScott McMullan氏は、Solutions Marketplaceで提供されるカタログの拡充が目指されていることを明らかにした。
「Solutions Marketplaceが最初に焦点を合わせているのは、当社のGoogle Appsやエンタープライズ検索など、コミュニケーションおよびコラボレーション製品の顧客と、それを補完する製品サービスを販売するサードパーティーとの間の橋渡しをすることである。しかしながら、これはほんの始まりに過ぎない。Googleの顧客と開発者にマッチする、拡大していくニーズに応じたものとしていきたいと願っている」と、McMullan氏は書いている。
2008年4月17日木曜日
2007年12月4日火曜日
Google versus the telecoms
Google versus the telecoms
If Google wins the 700MHz wireless spectrum auction in January, expect Google-branded phones galore.
Published: November 30, 2007, 2:41 PM PST
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news analysis There may just be a Google phone after all.
Google said on Friday it would apply to bid in the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's auction of 700 megahertz band wireless spectrum.
If it wins, it could build a wireless network for that spectrum on its own, or partner with others to build and operate such a network. Either way, Google could put its brand on millions of mobile devices that use the network. It would also be able to control the Internet experience on the devices and how much people would pay--or not pay--for the services.
In essence, Google could control the direction of the next-generation wireless network.
"Imagine an iPhone where the whole thing is a screen and the bottom eighth is banner ads running across," said Iain Gillott, a wireless analyst at IGR. "Spectrum is king; you own everything."
The 700MHz spectrum, which has been used to provide analog TV service, travels far and penetrates walls. As a result, it's considered the last remaining chunk of attractive wireless airwaves and is viewed as an opportunity to expand the Internet to a new frontier. The spectrum auction is scheduled to begin on January 24, and the deadline to apply to participate is Monday.
Google and other Internet companies have been hampered in their ability to expand their markets into the wireless space because carriers have had such a tight hold on the cellular industry. Right now, U.S. consumers are locked into the handset they use, the network it operates on, and the software it runs.
"Imagine an iPhone where the whole thing is a screen and the bottom eighth is banner ads running across. Spectrum is king; you own everything."
--Iain Gillott, IGR wireless analyst
This situation has crippled consumers' ability to use the Internet on their mobile devices, compared to how they use it on their PCs. Google executives say their aim is to bring the PC-style of Internet openness to the mobile world so that users have more choice in mobile services and applications, as well as price.
Google was instrumental in getting the FCC to adopt so-called "open access rules" that would ensure consumers could use any mobile device they choose on a large chunk of the 700MHz spectrum.
Profit motivates
While Google's entrance is likely to turn the wireless world upside-down, market disruption is not its motivation. Google's priority as a public company is to make a profit; having a Google-branded wireless service would attract a good deal more eyeballs to its ad-based services.
And mobile, in some ways, will be particularly fruitful for advertising. Owning the spectrum would give Google an advantage in local advertising, which is tailor-made for mobile use as people look for nearby restaurants, gas stations, or copy shops.
Conquering the mobile world would also give Google a boost in international markets, where people tend to be even more dependent on their mobile phones than they are in the U.S.
Google has managed to turn Web search into an $11 billion business on PCs by selling simple text ads that appear with search results. Imagine how lucrative that market will be when the ads, including local advertising, can get to the far reaches of the world where there aren't any PCs.
Right now the global PC search market generates about $20 billion in revenue, assuming each PC owner conducts an estimated 35 searches a month, according to Citigroup research. If they do just one search per month on the four billion mobile phones expected to be in use in 2010, they could generate $2.3 billion in revenue, assuming PC search advertising economics migrate as-is to the wireless world, Citigroup said in a report this week.
For Google, that could translate into $700 million in incremental revenue in 2010, according to Citigroup. A new network on the spectrum isn't expected until 2010 at the earliest, analysts say.
"If you can get the most attractive demographic, the 18- to 30-year-olds (who have grown up on Google), then advertisers will be lining up at the door," Gillott said.
Now on News.com
The wireless spectrum bid dovetails nicely with Google's moves to unify handset makers, software developers, and carriers on Android, an open mobile platform.
Mobile isn't the only place Google is eyeing the wireless access business. The company is dabbling in Wi-Fi-based services for PCs, building its own free wireless network in its hometown of Mountain View, Calif. It had also partnered with network provider EarthLink on a proposal for San Francisco. Despite initial support from city officials, the approval process stalled and EarthLink backed out in August amid a company restructuring and significant layoffs.
"Google is spending time and money paving this new superhighway," said Jeff Kagan, a wireless and telecommunications analyst. "Google is creating the world they want to compete in because it doesn't exist for them right now."A Google representative said no executives were available to comment on their spectrum plans or motivation.
Even if Google doesn't win, its actions have already shaken up the stagnant mobile industry, said Derek Brown, an analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald.
For Google, "there is a risk that they get in way over their heads in a field in which they are late to the party and in which they have no expertise," he said. "But history suggests Google has made some very good strategic, operational, and financial decisions and seems to have done as good or better a job at investing toward the future than many other similar companies."
2007年11月6日火曜日
About Android
Android™ will deliver a complete set of software for mobile devices: an operating system, middleware and key mobile applications. On November 12, we will release an early look at the Android Software Development Kit (SDK) to allow developers to build rich mobile applications.
Open
Android was built from the ground-up to enable developers to create compelling mobile applications that take full advantage of all a handset has to offer. It is built to be truly open. For example, an application could call upon any of the phone's core functionality such as making calls, sending text messages, or using the camera, allowing developers to create richer and more cohesive experiences for users. Android is built on the open Linux Kernel. Furthermore, it utilizes a custom virtual machine that has been designed to optimize memory and hardware resources in a mobile environment. Android will be open source; it can be liberally extended to incorporate new cutting edge technologies as they emerge. The platform will continue to evolve as the developer community works together to build innovative mobile applications.
All applications are created equal
Android does not differentiate between the phone's core applications and third-party applications. They can all be built to have equal access to a phone's capabilities providing users with a broad spectrum of applications and services. With devices built on the Android Platform, users will be able to fully tailor the phone to their interests. They can swap out the phone's homescreen, the style of the dialer, or any of the applications. They can even instruct their phones to use their favorite photo viewing application to handle the viewing of all photos.
Breaking down application boundaries
Android breaks down the barriers to building new and innovative applications. For example, a developer can combine information from the web with data on an individual's mobile phone -- such as the user's contacts, calendar, or geographic location -- to provide a more relevant user experience. With Android, a developer could build an application that enables users to view the location of their friends and be alerted when they are in the vicinity giving them a chance to connect.
Fast & easy application development
Android provides access to a wide range of useful libraries and tools that can be used to build rich applications. For example, Android enables developers to obtain the location of the device, and allow devices to communicate with one another enabling rich peer-to-peer social applications. In addition, Android includes a full set of tools that have been built from the ground up alongside the platform providing developers with high productivity and deep insight into their applications.
About Open Handset Alliance
What would it take to build a better mobile phone?
A commitment to openness, a shared vision for the future, and concrete plans to make the vision a reality.
Welcome to the Open Handset Alliance™, a group of more than 30 technology and mobile companies who have come together to accelerate innovation in mobile and offer consumers a richer, less expensive, and better mobile experience. Together we have developed Android™, the first complete, open, and free mobile platform.
We are committed to commercially deploy handsets and services using the Android Platform in the second half of 2008. An early look at the Android Software Development Kit (SDK) will be available on November 12th.
Google's Android Arrives: Not Gphone But An Open Source Mobile Phone Platform
Google's Android Arrives: Not Gphone But An Open Source Mobile Phone Platform
After literally years of anticipation, rumor, and increasingly aggressive speculation about a Google Phone, Google has formally announced that the Gphone cometh -- sort of. Today, the company has gone public with news of an open source mobile operating system called "Android," named after the company Google acquired in 2005. Backing Android is the Open Handset Alliance, a group of over 30 companies all pledging to contribute to the project. Below, a detailed, comprehensive look based on a pre-briefing with Google and from today's news conference.
Gphone? The Google Phone Timeline
Rumor after rumor after rumor keeps appearing that Google is to release its own mobile phone, the Gphone. In April 2007, we originally compiled all these Google Phone rumors into a timeline view. Since then, we've continued to update the list, so that the confused, perplexed or just plain curious can keep track of what's come out when. Enjoy!
Google's OS dreams calling on Linux
Google's OS dreams calling on Linux
Can Google's application development prowess be transformed into a next-generation mobile operating system?
It seems increasingly likely that Google, the ubiquitous tech company, is about to throw its hat into the race to develop the next big mobile device. Google's no gadget-maker, but it does develop quite a bit of software, and reports have been building that the company is relatively close to releasing the Gphone. (Our style department says we have to spell it that way.)
Most people who have wandered onto the Internet in the past couple of years are familiar with Google. The company's various applications from Gmail and Google Docs to Google Desktop and the Google Toolbar are likewise familiar to lots of PC users. When it comes to smart phones, Google Maps is almost a must-have application, and it comes standard with the iPhone.
So Google's got experience in taking applications built for a PC and moving them over to a smart phone, which will be a key part of transforming smart phones into true mobile computers. A mobile operating system, however, is an entirely different undertaking.It's very much a wide-open race to develop the next advanced mobile operating system. Symbian has the lead worldwide thanks to its close partnership with Nokia, the largest shareholder in the company. Windows Mobile is the second most widely used smart-phone operating system, according to Forward Concepts, and Linux is the third.
According to reports, Google wants to expand on that last category with its rumored mobile OS. The Gphone would be based on Linux and supported by advertising, which to many techies probably sounds like the ultimate Silicon Valley marriage made in hell. Try to forget, for a moment, about using a smart phone inundated with advertising messages and think about the implications of a Google-developed smart phone operating system.
It's still the very early days for this type of computing. Symbian and Microsoft have staked out opposing positions, but no company with the size and clout of Google has thrown its support behind the Linux development efforts for mobile computing.
Mobile phone makers are intrigued by Linux because of the constrained memory and power requirements of mobile computers and the ability to customize a Linux base for their products. Lots of work has already been done to make Linux modular, or to create building blocks that can be mixed and matched depending on what is desired. Tomihisa Kamada of Access told me earlier in the year that carriers and phone makers also like the idea of having their own branded interface on the phone, rather than relying on Microsoft and Symbian's branded operating system. If you go that route, that means you have to differentiate your products mostly on hardware, and that can be tricky.
But established phone makers and carriers looking for an answer to the iPhone are finding it hard to bet on a single Linux provider. Palm is floundering, with the recent news that the Linux-based version of Palm OS has been delayed again. Access, the company that acquired former Palm OS developer Palmsource, isn't faring much better. The folks at OpenMoko have gotten some buzz, but when First International Computer is your only hardware partner, you've got an uphill fight ahead of you. MontaVista has had some success with Motorola, and Wind River has been doing some interesting work, but are they in the best position to persuade the world to take a chance on their products?
Google, on the other hand, is Google. They've got open-source credibility, they've got mobile phone pioneers on board with their acquisition of Android in 2005, and some of the best and brightest engineers that Silicon Valley has to offer (not to mention enough cash to fund four or five internal projects that might have produced the eventual winner). As mobile phones start to deliver the same Internet experience as a PC, mobile search will be a vital application.
Could Google be the next mobile operating system company? It's more prepared than you might think.
(Credit: CNET Networks)The part that trips me up is the notion of an advertising-supported Gphone, something also reported by BusinessWeek as a key part of Google's aims for this market, along with its intention to go after the 700MHz spectrum auction. You're going to have to offer people something pretty special to have ads--even targeted ads--be an integral part of the phone experience, which has thus far been mostly ad free. BusinessWeek thinks Google could be trying to do a television model on your phone, where voice and data minutes are free when the phone user agrees to accept advertising. While that might work to a certain extent, I think people have shown themselves quite willing to pay for things that get around the increasing reach of advertising. The New York Times reported Monday, however, that Google may be forgoing a licensing fee for its software in favor of the advertising model, which could make the software that much more attractive to phone makers.
Despite a lack of smart-phone experience, Google has to be taken seriously in this market. It has the talent and the assets to worm its way into mobile phones, a consumer-friendly brand, and the industry heft to stick around through a few development cycles. The look and feel of any Gphone will be crucial to its chances, and without any solid information to that effect, it's hard to say whether this thing will be a success or a flop. But it's not hard to imagine that Google is making mobile development executives at Symbian, Microsoft, and Palm think long and hard about the current projects they have under development.
UPDATED, 10/9 5:40 p.m: Corrects spelling of Tomihisa Kamada's name.
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