Location importance to google

CRITICAL COMPONENT: LOCATION

Ron also asked about Google's plans to buy up dark fiber. If knowledge
is Google's goal, buying up dark fiber is just the start.

Access to dark fiber will give Google an opportunity to offer WiFi
Internet access, which they are already testing out here in San
Francisco, with a startup company called Feeva.

My answer to Ron was that Google wants everyone on broadband and it
wants to be the first page they see when they fire up their laptop.

Now, you might say, "Well, so, what? You can go elsewhere on the Web."
Yes, but not before you give Google your information -- whereabouts,
interests, intent, etc. If you want free access or cheap access, you'll
have to give up something, like your information, and your whereabouts.
You must give Google knowledge.

To the extent that offering free WiFi enables Google to access your
location, that's another piece of information or knowledge they have
about you. Knowing where we are can be a critical component in
understanding who we are.

"Getting people connected to information wherever they are continues to
be a focus area for us," said Larry Page, Google's co-founder and
president of products, on a conference call, following Google's
third-quarter blowout results. "One highlight is a bid we've submitted
to offer free wireless Internet access to the city of San Francisco.
This is an opportunity to make San Francisco a test ground for new
location-based technology."

See Net Sense: Free WiFi equals targeted ads.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?siteid=mktw&dist=nwtsense&guid=%7B40462329%2D2DE7%2D4B32%2DBFE5%2D6F39B705AF29%7D

To be sure, San Francisco hasn't given Google the OK, just yet.

It's also unclear whether local governments across the country won't
provide Internet access, like they provide roads and garbage pickup.
Still, San Francisco's mayor, Gavin Newsom, told me that he doesn't want
San Franciscans to be burdened with taxes for his WiFi initiative in the
city.

So, Google might have a good chance at experimenting, after all.

In San Francisco, when you fire up your laptop in Union Square, which
is one big free hot zone, you have to click onto the free Google WiFi
site and land on a Google search page. Down the road, Google might
potentially block you from roaming around the Web until you answer
certain questions, like, "Are you here to shop?" Or, "If you're here to
shop, what item are you seeking?" Or, "Would you like to find the
nearest Starbucks while you're here?"

See TV piece: Google's WiFi strategy
(http://www.marketwatch.com/tvradio/playerfull.asp?guid={C6AF8A84-8AAA-4647-923E-621E35BF82EB}&clip=wifi&type=video&siteid=mktw&dist=nwtsense)

Google maps would be a good starting point for its WiFi Internet
access, location-based services. Just like those maps in the mall that
highlight where you are in the mall with a box that says: "You are
here," Google maps can appear on the free WiFi homepage and say: "You
are here."

With increasing knowledge, the next thing you know, Google will be
saying: "We know where you are. Now, this is what you should do."
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SPENDING TIME ON GOOGLE

Google Maps is just one of the many properties that attract users and
provide Google with other data points to help them understand our
complicated multidimensional personalities.

Traffic to Google Maps (which is a feature on Google Local) was at 15
million in September, according to comScore Networks. It was the No. 3
most visited map site in that month, right behind Yahoo Maps, at No. 2,
and the No. 1 site, MapQuest, a division of Time Warner's (TWX) AOL. By
comparison to local properties, Google Maps surpasses InterActiveCorp's
(IACI) CitySearch, with 14.3 million unique visitors last month.
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