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Yahoo/Google Deal Drags on—to its Death?

posted on October 21, 2008

Despite Google’s headway inside the Beltway, the Yahoo/Google ad deal is still under government review—or, more technically, stalled while the government considers reviewing the deal. Yesterday, CNET reported that Google and Yahoo extended the deadline for the government’s review of their still-pending ad deal. The deadline was tomorrow, and that was already after one extension from October 8. The new deadline is set for sometime before Thanksgiving. What I want to know is—how do I get a deal like that, where I tell the government when they can and can’t tell me what to do?

Anyway, with the ad still under prereview, it looks as though it may never go through at all, according to TheDeal.com (via Silicon Alley Insider):

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Email Marketing Better than Social Network Marketing

posted on October 21, 2008

Is email marketing better than marketing through social networks? Yes, according to a new study from ExactTarget and Ball State University’s Center for Media Design. The study reveals that:

“. . . 18- to 34-year-olds claim they are more likely to be influenced to make purchases based on e-mail marketing messages and direct mail than marketing messages on social networks,” said Mike Bloxham, director, insight and research, Ball State University’s Center for Media Design. “It is too easy to assume that the media consumers choose for their own news, information and entertainment are, by default, the best media to use for marketing messages. This is a dangerous assumption to make in a time when consumers are becoming increasingly aware of their level of control over their media experiences.”

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Pilgrim’s Picks, October 20

posted on October 20, 2008

Ha ha! I usurp Pilgrim’s Picks while Andy . . . relaxes on a beach in Hawaii.

Hm. On second thought, I lose.

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Google Still Learning Lobbying Ropes

posted on October 20, 2008

Google and Microsoft are at each other’s throats once again: this time for control of Washington. And what I”m about to tell you probably sounds like all the back-room dealing we’ve heard so much about during this campaign and we’re all tired of hearing about lobbyists—but that’s exactly what this is.

Sunday’s New York Times featured an article about Google’s presence in the nation’s capital. Although Google has had a slow start at lobbying lawmakers, they’re beginning to get the hang of the way things work inside the Beltway.

Google began lobbying Washington in 2005, and didn’t do so well at the start:

Several suggested that Google thought its California spirit alone would charm Washington.

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Motorola Readies Its Gphone?

posted on October 20, 2008

Unless someone’s better at keeping a secret than Motorola’s being, the second Gphone to hit the market will be coming to the US in Q2 2009 (Europe, Q3 2009), according to a Business Week report. The phone is slated to cost about $150.

Like the T-Mobile G1, manufactured by HTC, Motorola’s Gphone is slated to feature a touchscreen and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Of course, last week’s reviews noted a few deficiencies in the first Gphone’s design, including issues with the keyboard/phone layout. Motorola’s latest phone, the Krave NZ4 (Engadget review) is a flip phone with an external and internal touch screen. It just arrived with Verizon last week.

Business Week also reports that Motorola’s Gphone will feature “a host of social-network-friendly features”:

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Linky Goodness, October 17

posted on October 17, 2008

Today we’re mostly Googly in our linkiness.

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Microsoft to Yahoo: Ignore Ballmer, He’s Just a Flirt

posted on October 17, 2008

From proposal to almost-marriage to messy breakup, their love affair dominated tech news for the first half of the year. Now that the Yahoo/Google deal has supplanted the proposed Yahoo/Microsoft merger in the public attention, it looks like Steve Ballmer’s getting a little lonely again. In a keynote earlier this week, the Microsoft CEO said:

We offered $33 bucks (for Yahoo) and it’s $11 today. It’s clear Yahoo didn’t want to sell. They probably still think it’s worth more than $33 a share.

I still think it makes sense for their shareholders and ours.

That evening, Carl Icahn, who long pushed for the deal, agreed with Ballmer:

I will say and I continue to say that sooner or later there’s got to be a deal with Microsoft and Yahoo of some type. I really believe that very strongly.