Google expands further into travel

[adventurelife]

Google is making further moves into the tech that powers some serious travel sites.
(http://www.google.com/press/ita/index.html)
Interesting future for us involved in travel and not convinced it will be all good

[OldWelshGuy]

Now wasn't it only yesterday that I said google will move into vertical portals and other social areas.

twas always on the cards, but my guess is that we will se a lot more anti competition/anti trust cases against them.

[adventurelife]

Now wasn't it only yesterday that I said google will move into vertical portals and other social areas.

twas always on the cards, but my guess is that we will se a lot more anti competition/anti trust cases against them.

I have been watching and waiting for it and I knew travel was an obvious one due to the online growth of travel related sites. Looks like they will become a product seller and not just a search provider

I am a 80/20 split business direct/indirect I think I may increase my indirect as a defensive play as I have a feeling organic ranking may become a bit harder in certain sectors:(

[eventdomain]

comparison shop for flights and airfares

a product seller you say, hmmm kind of like what Yahoo has with Kelkoo, but for Travel stuff. Interesting

Or will they go into the Travel comparison vertical arena?

[An Oasis]

I am a 80/20 split business direct/indirect I think I may increase my indirect as a defensive play as I have a feeling organic ranking may become a bit harder in certain sectors:(

I think that will be a given for nearly all sectors. Time scale 2010-2014? for all but the very small niches which are not worth trying to monetise and get a free pass?!

[Simply Clicks]

Microsoft have already made a move into travel and have announced they are to shortly move into the UK with Bing Travel (http://travelthinking.blogspot.com/2010/06/bing-travel-to-launch-in-uk.html).

I think wherever Microsoft and Apple go, Google will attempt to follow.

[franchiseshop]

I think wherever Microsoft and Apple go, Google will attempt to follow.

Piggybacking from others media attention, like dell on the back of the iPad, seems the norm now. One company spends several years developing a product and their competitor copies over within a few months and gets the benefits of all the marketing and media exposure.

Now if only I had several billion bucks to play with :)

[Simply Clicks]

AO,

there's definitely a land grab going on. The issue for Google et al, is where to prioritise; Mobile, social media, local search, video, browsers, operating systems etc.

Each market has its technologies and its leaders in market presence. Google will find it cannot do everything as well as the existing market and technology leaders.

[OldWelshGuy]

Google while big simply doesn't have the clout or resources that Microsoft has.