Google's problem is not that net neutrality is bad for them, exactly, but that Verizon loathes it. And Google is utterly dependent on Verizon pushing Android. Half of all Android phones are Droids on Verizon, and you can ascribe a lot of that to Verizon's aggressive marketing campaign. In fact, I think you can argue that Android is more Verizon's brand now than Google's. So Google has a lot to lose by antagonizing the linchpin of its mobile strategy.
In addition, now that Android sales have taken off Google isn't an outsider looking in at an industry whose gatekeepers could easily shut them out from mobile search and advertising. They own the #2 platform, and they've got enough pull to ensure that Google gets a piece of the mobile pie - which means that net neutrality isn't worth as much to Google as it was two years ago.
This article is spot-on. Google was enthusiastic about net neutrality when it was essential to their financial success. Now that it has a cost, they're discovering the virtues of compromise... which wouldn't be an issue without the relentless Google PR about how principled they are. As pg said once, the trick with declaring that you're not evil is that people will hold you to it.
Exactly correct. Google can afford to stand up to the Chinese government, but not Verizon. This should tell us something about what we've allowed the wireless "market" to come to.
Indeed. Isn't it interesting? Apple (according to rumor) puts in a big order for CDMA chips, and at just about the same time Google hastens to curry favor with Verizon at the expense of their own reputation.
Gosh, it's almost as if Verizon has just recently made some kind of strategic deal to achieve a position where Google needs them more than they need Google, and has therefore begun dictating terms.
And eventually someone is usually right. Apple really was in negotiations with Intel, they were secretly maintaining an x86 branch of OS X, they really did have a fully touchscreen-controlled iPhone in the works, etc. Rumors aren't always right, but they're not always wrong either. And I find that smart people believing the rumors is generally a good sign that they're about to be revealed as true.
Yeah, practically every Apple product in recent years has been leaked before the official announcement. The difficult part is separating fact from the false rumors and fabrications.
In addition, now that Android sales have taken off Google isn't an outsider looking in at an industry whose gatekeepers could easily shut them out from mobile search and advertising. They own the #2 platform, and they've got enough pull to ensure that Google gets a piece of the mobile pie - which means that net neutrality isn't worth as much to Google as it was two years ago.
This article is spot-on. Google was enthusiastic about net neutrality when it was essential to their financial success. Now that it has a cost, they're discovering the virtues of compromise... which wouldn't be an issue without the relentless Google PR about how principled they are. As pg said once, the trick with declaring that you're not evil is that people will hold you to it.