Has Google won the game we didn't even know we were playing?

January 19, 2007

When Being a Verb is Not Enough: Google wants to be YOUR Internet.

Robert Cringely:

...Google loves secrecy. That they've been acquiring fiber assets hasn't been a secret, but the sheer volume of these acquisitions HAS been. Why? One thought is that it kept down the price since people didn't really know it was Google snatching up this stuff (they've done it under a number of different corporate names). But if price was the issue, then why hasn't Google just bought the companies that own the fiber? It made no sense until I scratched my head and thought a bit further, at which point it became obvious that Google wants to -- in its own way -- control the Internet. In fact, they probably control it already and we just haven't noticed.

Google also may be building huge data centers all over the place, in places where they have access to lots of electricity generating capacity.

The theory is that they are planning to be the only logical source of the vast internet bandwidth needed for piping all media into your house. Meaning, Google may be planning to be our defacto supplier of TV, movies, telephone service, as well as email and other internet traffic. Could be big.