Google
Not a bad idea, but the Big G can and should do better. First, though, it'll need to buy TiVo
Wait, haven't we heard this before?
Yes, you have. I first proposed this idea in 2005, shortly after Yahoo!
At the time, I envisioned a Web TV future with TiVo as portal and Google as the backbone:
Google has a massive network. It has an algorithm for searching and organizing anything fast. It has a platform for targeted advertising. It has invested heavily in making broadband available anywhere, including over power lines.
Google still needs a last-mile connection, though it's making progress via set-top box partnerships. Apple TV runs YouTube, and according to TechCrunch, Big G has been testing TV ads in Dish Network's
A TiVo deal would therefore build on Google's existing experience. It could also be just the Trojan Horse the company needs to win the living room.
Bigger goals
When I say, "the living room," I'm referring to consumers who'd enjoy a more interactive experience. They like the idea of experiencing Web content on their TV. They like streaming. Microsoft (Nasdaq; MSFT) has done a good job catering to them by bringing Netflix's
Mr. Softy's problem is that it views the PC -- not the Web -- as the primary platform for data aggregation and delivery. Google doesn't have that legacy. To the contrary; Google is doing everything it can to make cloud computing services more useful.
Consider Google Docs, which researcher Compete says hosted more than 4 million visits in September. Roughly 113 million users cried foul when Gmail failed last month. And Google Analytics is widely considered a standard for measuring Web traffic.
Yet the Big G is still innovating. Consider Google Voice. Formerly known as Grand Central, the service creates a single number for all of your voice connections, routing calls to wherever you are.
Google Voice also allows users to make free calls to all U.S. destinations. Think of it as a alternative to Skype or Vonage, though in practice, it may more similar to Jajah, a Web telephony rebel that my Motley Fool Rule Breakers teammates and I met in October.
Now, what if you didn't need to connect with a nearby cell tower in order to make your calls? What if your TiVo started the process for you? It could. Build a Wi-Fi router and additional software into the box, and you'd have a server for Webifying every device in your home.
The "why" in WiMAX
We already know that Google is interested in last-mile technologies, thanks to its investments in broadband over power lines and WiMAX. TiVo would be yet another way to get close to consumers.
And isn't that the goal? The closer Google gets, the better its demographic database. Better demographics would improve advertising delivery, the very bread and butter of its business.
To be clear, I'm not suggesting that Google use a TiVo deal as the impetus for transforming YouTube into a Netflix replacement. Instead, I view TiVo as a portal. Big G would need to do whatever it had to -- including striking pennies-on-the-dollar deals with video content librarians such as Hulu and iTunes -- to make that portal useful.
Give the box away, too. Data is more important than hardware revenue. If enough consumers signed a two-year deal that gave Google the right to study viewing, Web, and telephony habits via an in-box version of Google Analytics, just imagine how advertisers would react.
Google says it wants to index the world's information. But it really wants to make the Web the next computing and consuming platform, and fund it with ads. A revamped Google TV could help. Mastering the last mile would help a lot more.
Buy TiVo already, Google. We'll both be happier when you do.
