Google Dials Up Amazon

By Rick Aristotle Munarriz
September 23, 2008 | Comments (1)

Recs

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Amagoo? Goomazon?

Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) branded handset is still several weeks away from hitting the market, but VentureBeat reports that an Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) digital-music and video-store app has been spotted on a phone released early.

The move makes perfect sense. If Google wants to compete against Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone in the smartphone market, the last thing it needs is to promote iTunes.

It doesn't want to repeat Research In Motion's (Nasdaq: RIMM) mistake. RIM wanted to take the iPhone head-on -- and gain some clout outside the boardroom -- by offering iTunes compatibility on its new BlackBerry line, but Google clearly looks at the situation another way: Why risk sending people over to Apple for their digital-music purchases?

Google is doing it right by going with Amazon, even if it means alienating fans of the market leader in digital music. Apple and Google were going to collide eventually, so the clash may as well start now.

The relationship between Google and Amazon should be able to evolve. It certainly doesn't have to end with digital media downloads. How cool would it be to have an Amazon e-commerce app, with which someone who's comparison-shopping can tap into Amazon's storefront and make a physical purchase? If TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO) owners can now go shopping on Amazon from the comfort of their sofas, why not through Google's handset?

The digital-music market is intensifying. Now that Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) is buying music-subscription service Napster (Nasdaq: NAPS), Amazon is facing a bricks-and-mortar giant that wants to play on both battlefields.

So if Google has to fight Apple, and Amazon is set to duke it out with Best Buy, they may as well battle the enemies together.

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Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has already been won over by the iPhone, contractually speaking. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story, save for TiVo. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Comments from our Foolish Readers

Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment icon found on every comment.

Report this Comment On September 23, 2008, at 11:15 AM, SNHamilton wrote:

This article just repeats an opinion over and over (Googles handset should not use iTunes) without ever explaining why it would be bad, and why going with Amazon is better. In future articles, please provide your reasoning when introducing an opinion, otherwise the article provides little value.

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Google Dials Up Amazon

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What do the unfolding financial crisis and ongoing market volatility mean for your money? The Fool's here with answers. Get the best of our daily commentary and analysis in your inbox simply by entering your email address in the box below.

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Report this Comment On September 23, 2008, at 11:15 AM, SNHamilton wrote:

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