Cringely Writes Even Bigger Than Google Schemes

Posted on November 14, 2007
Filed Under Markets |

Ah, Robert X. Cringely - surely no one envisions bigger than he does when it comes to corporate strategy? He’s at it again, peeling back even more layers of the supposed secret Google plan for world domination liberation, and he reveals a scale of ambition so audacious that it could just be true.

Cringely points out that his description of Google’s true play behind the gambit of implying no interest in the 700-MHz wireless spectrum is now getting picked up by mainstream journalists. So if it’s real he scooped them by months.

But once the spectrum is won and the network is built, say by 2010 or 2011, Google will have a very different relationship with the other mobile operators. That’s because Gphone (its a network service, understand, not a device), like Gmail, will be free.

Think for a moment of the impact a free mobile phone service will have on the mobile phone market. Why would I continue with Verizon or AT&T or Sprint or T-Mobile or Alltel or whomever if I could get the same or better service for free? - Getting to Know You

The first half of Cringely’s article describes the use of ‘borrowed” social security numbers, and the gray-to-illegal economy in the US. From there he makes the connection - and warns us, “Stick with me, because this is good” - to Google.

Google? Yep.

Which brings us back to the credit bureau. It would be very much in Google’s interest to own one of the big three credit reporting agencies, because your mobile phone number is the most practical supplement for the Social Security number as a financial identifier.

Take all the web usage and YouTube video data Google has been acquiring about us all, glue it to our data down at the credit bureau, tie it to our mobile phone number and our mobile activity, then use the resulting product as both an information service and a database for targeting ads and you have Super Google — the most valuable company on Earth and entirely based on metadata.

Give it a read, you deserve the entertainment, and the chance to dream big.

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