Dell to Ship Google Search

Sounds like a great deal for Dell. Im not too sure what Google gets out of this, unless Google is engineering its software with hooks in it for adware that it plans to enable in the future. This article also mentions “Targeted voice advertising service” in which Google will try to insert targeted, intelligent ads for streaming media, internet radio, and other audio-based keywords.

So essentially, if you buy a Dell, does it mean that Google is eavesdropping on what you listen to and then serving up ads based on that content? People got pretty worked up over the possibility that the NSA was eavesdropping on Americans. How will America feel knowing that Google, which is already uploading desktop content via their desktop search, is now going to listen in on what people play on their PC’s?

From CNET here about the deal:

Google and Dell have agreed to a first in a series of deals to preinstall Web and desktop search software on the PC maker’s computers, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said Thursday.

Under the deal, millions of Dell PCs will be loaded with the Google toolbar for Web and PC search, along with a co-branded home page, before they’re shipped to consumers.

Financial details were not disclosed, but Schmidt said the companies will share revenue from search-advertising fees.

Google plans to introduce a targeted voice advertising service for Internet radio in the coming months, Schmidt said. The company is working to convert technologies for creating radio ads to complement its own advertising platform.

Stephen Baker, an analyst at NPD Techworld, said: “It strikes me as a great deal for Dell, as they are basically selling dead space, and a bad deal for Google, as I doubt that they will collect many incremental eyeballs beyond the ones they have now.”

The software used to provide targeted advertising? Google bought it; details here:

Google Gets into Radio Ad Biz with dMarc Purchase

Google announced Tuesday that it has acquired privately held radio advertising firm dMarc Broadcasting Inc. in a deal that could be worth up to $1.24 billion, including an initial payment of $102 million, writes Reuters. dMarc connects advertisers to radio stations through an automated advertising system that simplifies the selling, scheduling and delivering ads, said Google, which plans to integrate dMarc technology into AdWords, creating a radio ad distribution channel.

“Google is committed to exploring new ways to extend targeted, measurable advertising to other forms of media,” said Tim Armstrong, vice-president of Advertising Sales, Google.

Wade Roush at MIT points to an “intriguing possibility” having to do with contextual ads (which dMarc doesn’t do): “Perhaps Google is working on technology that would ‘listen’ to the word-stream in a radio program, parse its meaning, and insert ads related to those subjects…. And if such a system works for radio, what’s to stop Google from entering the TV advertising market, or even outdoor advertising? If there’s a context to work with, the distribution of any ad can be tailored.”