Patternland

The Story:

Great bit of (seemingly) reputable investigalism over on cnet: “Google to blend search, music in One Box”

Analysis:

If the mountain view chocolate factory is getting into the music game, then people in the Apple office are (probably) standing in deathly silence.

Why would they be doing this?

The answer is one figure: 70 per cent.

What’s 70 per cent? It’s a ballpark estimate, based on a number of sources, of Google’s share of the web-search market.

Let’s imagine, for a moment, that I’m part of this 70 per cent and I search for Bruce Springsteen on Google. Up pops a helpful Google box with a link to a full, coherent information page about the boss and a little link to a site where I can buy his music. It’s a Google box, so it comes with their reputation.

Now, once this has happened, what are the chances that my click converts to a sale? Well, that’s up to me, but because of Google’s sheer mass (once again, 70 per cent…) if this scheme is for real, then it poses a legitimate threat to the Cupertino fashionista’s lock on e-music.