In another terrific example of “brand over matter” – the media are pointing to Google’s new finance site as a potential competitor to the likes of Yahoo, and in some cases, Bloomberg.
I wonder of any of them actually looked at the site in any detail (that is rhetorical – I know they did, I know…). At best it is Yahoo extra-lite. (IMHO, based on what you can look at today, Yahoo’s is infinitely better). It doesn’t even come close to what a Bloomberg or Reuters offers. So I’m lost… interactive charts are meant to be really, really exciting news?
And here is an interesting point from the WSJ: “Unlike many other finance sites, Google doesn’t have its own editorial staff.”
This kind of coverage either points to the power of the Google brand over any kind of matter or substance. OK, now I’m ranting… sorry… but what is right for Google isn’t necessarily right or needed by consumers. Maybe they should stick to their own truisims (thanks for the pointer GMSV):
2. It’s best to do one thing really, really well.
“Google does search. Google does not do horoscopes, financial advice or chat.”
— “Ten things Google has found to be true,” circa June 2004
I find very similar coverage in the Blogosphere. There are some very popular and highly-regarded PR Bloggers who are quick to jump on the bandwagon when they hear of new web based tools. One recent example was w/ 30 Boxes. All the buzz … then I sign up and find it’s just so buggy, non-standard, terrible really. When there are lots of other calendar tools already available, I wonder why that one received so much attention. It’s nice to be pointed to new things, but Bloggers too, should tell it more like it is. They shouldn’t be creating false markets for false products. Maybe this next point is off topic a bit, but look also at the buzz around Riya.com. That site (beta) features face recognition technology. They want you to load one thousand (yes 1,000) personal picutres of people you know, then the system will (after training) recognize and find people in other pictures. Really? I’m going to load 1,000 pictures of my wife, kids and dog and expose them to the whims of anyone who wants to search for them. NOT.
I’m in agreement: Google Finance is ridiculously thin. Not sure what their thinking was in releasing it at this stage, as a couple more months in Alpha would have brought its weakness to light. One would hope.
I’m curious to see how a weak Google product will do against others that are clearly superior.
How powerful is the Google brand?