So Google Wants to do Broadband?

Full Disclosure: I am currently employed by Comcast. As such, my employer would potentially be impacted by the Google Fiber for Communities project. Depending on where Google deploys their proposed Open Access Network, Comcast might lose 50K - 500K subscribers. That said, I'm also a believer in laissez-faire economics, Adam Smith's "invisible hand", and welcome the idea of free market competition. I enjoy the open rivalry between Comast, Dish and Verizon (in my local area). Competition fosters innovation, reduces consumer cost, and drives companies to optimal performance. Competition is good for consumers and it's good for companies, too. Adding Google to the list of Comcast competitors would be interesting, not worrisome. Still ... I've seen and participated in a number of failed Google experiments, including the Nexus One. My own frustration with the Nexus One is the true reason for this blog, not worries about competition between Google and Comcast. Oh, and lest I forget, the views and opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not reflect those of my employer.

When you make $23 Billion a year as a company, you can try all kinds of whacky "experiments", see if they work, and if they don't, just pull the plug. Think Google.

Google broke into the mobile industry last year by offering the Nexus One smartphone. Although the device was made in a close partnership with HTC (a Taiwan-based hardware vendor), Google sold the device exclusively through its website.

The Nexus One was designed to showcase the Android software, which was also developed by Google. Unfortunately, Google soon found that making a great mobile phone isn't enough -- you also have to support it. Soon after the phone went on sale, buyers started to complain on Google's support forums: they weren't getting prompt assistance when they had problems with their phones. There were also angry at the $550 early termination fee.

This week, Google announced that they are shutting down the Nexus One project. The phone will no longer be sold through the company's e-commerce site. Google will provide "support" for current owners, and will allow some carriers to continue distributing / supporting the phones -- but Google is effectively getting out of the mobile phone business.

Being a mobile phone carrier is hard. Maintaining a call center staff to deal with all your inbound customer complaints, technical issues, and service needs is difficult. But you know what? So is building, maintaining and supporting a broadband network infrastructure.

What happens after Google builds their ultra-high speed broadband network? Will they hire marketing personnel, to foster new marketing campaigns that compete and win market share from local broadband competitors? Will they hire Sales personnel to find new customers, win them over from competitors, etc. Will Google hire operations personnel, to provision the systems, hire technicians and engineers to maintain the fiber plant? Will they staff a call center to respond to customer issues, open trouble tickets, and dispatch service technicians? Will they engage with local government agencies / obtain permits (read "pay local government fees") to expand their network into adjacent communities? Or will they bail on the experiment after a few months?

I hope all those communities clamouring for the Google Fiber for Communities project are paying attention to Google's entry and subseuqent pull-out from the mobile phone market. I hope they look at other Google experiments (and the current state of those experiments), like Google Answer, Google Buzz, Google Catalogs, Google Directory, GOOG-411, Google Scholar, Google Search Appliance for Enterprise, Google SOAP Search API, Goog SMS, Friend Connect, Knol, Orkut, Google Wave, Web Accelerator, Google WiFi, Google Video ... the list goes on.

Don't get me wrong -- I like Google. I use their Search engine product every day (it's the default home screen for my home computer, and would be for my Work computer, if IT didn't lock down the ability to change the browser home page). I also use other Google products (Gmail, Picasa, Blogger, Google Voice, YouTube) routinely. But I know these other products don't make Google much money. At any time, they may suffer the same fate as the Nexus One (or all those other Google experiments, cited above), or be moved to a premium / subscription model (in which case I would likely discontinue using them).

Google is a Search Engine company. They make their money by reading, indexing, and storing all the data they can harvest from the internet, and presenting it to consumers through their search engine and/or search advertising product. Their entire business model is centered around making information public.

Frankly, I'm a little uncomfortable with the idea of my data, even encrypted, flowing through Google's fiber network. Especially after it was discovered that Google Street View cars had been sniffing Wi-Fi data. Even in the aftermath, I don't believe Google thought the idea of sniffing WiFi packets (i.e., finding data, indexing it and storing it) was a bad thing.

Google wasn't a particularly good mobile phone retailer, I have doubts that they'll be any better at maintaining and supporting a fiber broadband network.