J
Jeff Causey
Guest
A few years ago, advertising served up by Google was confined to a sidebar on the search giant’s results page. Since then, Google has gone on to develop a variety of new services and platforms, some with advertising and some without advertising. The company has conquered the smartphone market thanks to the Android operating system, but it is not content to stop there. Google has made a big push into wearable devices lately, supporting platforms like smart watches and even developing their own concepts like Google Glass. Not limiting themselves to what users keep on their bodies, or close by, Google is also branching out into areas like automobile interfaces, home appliances, and home automation systems. Google is getting close to being present just about anywhere one may look, which makes all of those surfaces a potential advertising space.
This possibility came to light in some recent communications with the Securities and Exchange Commission in which Google is try to avoid disclosing discrete revenues from mobile devices. The SEC has requested Google to do so in a manner similar to Facebook and Twitter. However, Google is resisting at least partly based on the idea that “mobile” devices continue to evolve and trying to define what is a mobile device will be a problem.
According to Google, “our expectation is that users will be using our services and viewing our ads on an increasingly wide diversity of devices in the future” including “refrigerators, car dashboards, thermostats, glasses, and watches, to name just a few possibilities.” This does seem to run counter to some previous announcements. For instance, when Google acquired Nest, it was announced that Nest’s privacy policy “limits the use of customer information to providing and improving Nest’s products and services.” That can change and judging by Google’s disclosure to the SEC, it seems likely that terms similar to Nest’s policy could be revised so Google could serve up ads in the name of improving the service.
Do you think Google will eventually have advertising in place that is always within your field of vision?
source: Wall Street Journal
Come comment on this article: Google advertising could appear just about everywhere
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