Rafael Grillo

Why Google Invested in Clearwire

As dominant leader in the online search and advertising market, Google's fundamental strategic opportunity to generate huge growth is to increase distribution: have more people spending more hours online. Not that different from Coke -or any other mass-appeal marketer for that matter- placing vending machines in everyone corner. In that sense, tearing down any barrier that might keep consumers off-line plays directly in Google's favor. Google will throw all its muscle behind any opportunity that allows them to capture what is now dead off-line time: think commuting, travelling, lunch, leisure, etc. Literally billions of ad/hours (clicks in their ads!) they are not reaching now. Their dominant market share would assure them by default 70% of that new revenue stream. That is the limitless promise of WiMax. All the points made in the article are valid, but basically basically point in the same direction: expanded distribution is the main driver behind these investments. This is a real smart use of resources. Gosh, they're good!