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COMMENTARY | Noah Brier

Investing in Shared Resources

September 10, 2008 | RSS | EMAIL | PRINT | 3 COMMENTS

Last week Umair Haque wrote this about Google after Chrome's release: "Chrome is a shared resource that ensures the sustainable growth of a larger ecosystem. There are two key words in that sentence. The first is shared. Google is investing in a shared resource because it has the potential to expand the pie dramatically for all, and so Google stands to benefit more than by hoarding it. The second is sustainable growth: through Chrome, Google ensures the ecosystem stays a level playing field, amplifying incentives for innovation, quality, and productivity." [Bolding mine]

Then this week, "Google is planning to launch a network of satellites to bring internet access to three billion people in Africa ... Google claims the new technology could cut the cost of broadband by 90 per cent for some of the world's poorest countries. " They're not alone in the deal, but they're leading the way.

Both are examples of the same kind of strategy: The kind that's forward thinking, incredibly rare (companies hate investing money in things their competitors can profit from) and can only come from a market leader (that's how they make money after all).

Tags: business, google, strategy


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COMMENTS

1Ben Thomas

Speaking of great ideas for Africa...I read about another cool company: http://www.myabod.com

They have created a very low cost "home in a box" that can be assembled by 4 people in a day...but in contemporary, cool designs.

September 10, 2008

2bonnie

great post....leaving for Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Ghana and Togo on Friday to do my interviews for my dissertation. Going to be interested to see what is available for internet and how many have the olpc.....

September 11, 2008

3Garth A. Buchholz

Indeed, there was a World Wide Web; then there was a Google.

I'm a big fan of Chrome, not just for its "browser lite" Web 2.0-oriented design, but for the philosophy that was behind the development of it.

Now keep that Chrome nice and shiny, Google!

September 11, 2008