Hmmm, I wonder if Google has any interest in the hosting business?...Probalby not, low-margin and potentially service-intensive. Still, think about it...
-According to articles I have read, their cost of network services is stunningly low. They are the Wal-Mart/Sam's of large, dedicated data-centers. So they meet pre-requisite #1 of any volume business, which is to have a defensible cost advantage.
-They have entered other seemingly mature, low-profit businesses with a revolutionary approach. -The opportunity is there. I have blogged about the shocking infrequency with which people obtain their own domain for email. Even many of my super-geek friends default to using their ISP's domain. Cost really isn't the issue--Verio is down to $10/year for domain registration, and UCVHost is I think $25/year for about 20 Mb. Part of the problem is that it is inconvenient, part is that people don't really know it is so cheap.
-Google already has some consumer tools: Blogger and Picasa.
-Unlike most competitors, they have the advantage of not needing to advertise.
I think Google could make a big splash if they packaged:
-EFFORTLESS domain registration and email creation
-Good server-side spam-filtering
-Simple home-site creation (using Blogger) -Good photo-sharing (Picasa) I think they would need to charge for this. Which certainly goes against their business model. They could give it away free the first year, then charge after that. Of course, being very up-front about how much they would charge.
9:51:41 PM
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