Google Base Attack

Hot on the heels of one heck of a quarterly earnings report, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG  ) confirmed Tuesday that it is working on a new database service that means to put the "search" into classified ads. It's called Google Base and it's in testing now, according to news sources like The Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press.

There's no shortage of speculation on the Internet that Google is taking on an obvious foe, Motley Fool Stock Advisor pick eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY  ) . (There's also Craigslist, the well-known upstart that has done so well in the classified ad space.) And of course, the move could pose an increasing threat to newspapers, which have done some high-profile suffering as a lot of their classified advertising business has moved to the Web.

Apparently, Google Base doesn't search third-party classified listings, as one might expect a service from Google would do. Instead, it allows people to enter their collectibles and various wares for sale directly into a searchable Google database. Much is being made about the idea that this is the first time that Google is, in a sense, creating its own content, as opposed to searching that of others.

When we think about the eBay behemoth vs. Google behemoth idea, we can hearken back to a recent fairly well-confirmed rumor that Google is launching an online payment service much like eBay's PayPal. Maybe the writing has been on the wall for quite some time.

I've always been a fan of Google (short of being tempted to buy the shares), but over the last couple months, I have to admit that I started wondering if all the various and sundry areas Google is getting into -- word of free Wi-Fi and spacey headquarters plans, for example -- was displaying a lack of focus that might work against the company in the long run.

However, Google's recent earnings report was enough to make some of us skeptics doubt ourselves. Longtime Fool Rick Munarriz theorized earlier this week about Google shares at $450 -- which does seem far-fetched, despite their recent lofty highs. Although taking on eBay and Craigslist is aiming pretty darn high -- and many arguments exist for why those companies may be insulated from a Google incursion -- these are the days when some of us may feel a bit sheepish about questioning Google's abilities too much.

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Alyce Lomax does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned.