Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Google eyes the individual

Author: James Ashton, Daily Mail

20 June 2007, 7:46am

Google has seen the future - and it's personal. Undeterred by ongoing rows over privacy, Eric Schmidt, boss of the £80bn internet giant, proclaims 'personal search is the next phenomenon'.

By that he means services such as iGoogle, which is 'exploding in use'. It has a unique home page and keeps track of an individual's search history to predict what he, or she, might be looking for.

Schmidt adds: 'We are trying to close the gap between what you want and what you type in.' Users would have to opt in, though.

Google recently bowed to EU criticism and agreed to scrub years of personal data, keeping records of only the last 18 months of web searches. Schmidt said that would be cut to just 12 months if legislation was tightened, adding: 'We have to follow the law.'

The company employs 2,500 people in Europe, mostly in Dublin for tax reasons, and it is growing at a breakneck pace.

Google shares have risen six-fold since it floated in August 2004, but tensions are rising with its rivals.

Microsoft cried foul after Google's £1.5bn acquisition of advertising group DoubleClick, while ebay pulled its advertising after Google ramped up its Check Out onloan payment system, a competitor to its own Pay Pal.

Schmidt says his business can avoid a consumer backlash by 'making decisions based on what the end user wants'. But as it mushrooms into maps, calendars and spreadsheets it may not be as easy as that.

The company makes its money by tagging search results with advertising. Schmidt is trying to adapt the technology for radio and television, grabbing further revenue from traditional media.

YouTube, Google's website for sharing video clips, is launching nine local language services from France to Japan. But the Google unit, which has six hours of videos posted on it every minute, faces a £50m law suit from US media giant Viacom accusing it of permitting piracy.

Users have been posting TV clips of their favourite shows on the site, breaking copyright. Co-founder Chad Hurley admitted increased exposure brought with it more 'issues'. YouTube will carry special video channels for partners, such as the BBC, Chelsea Football Club and 10 Downing Street.

The other co-founder, Steve Chen, wants YouTube videos to be watched everywhere, from mobile phones to TV sets.