EightBlack.

There are some people in telco land that seem to think companies like Google wont come and play in their sandpit.

Bullshit.

In the US, Google have launched Google Directory Assistance (or 800.GOOG.411).

Most Americans are familiar with dialing 411 from wherever they live and they know they’ll be connected to directory assistance.

In Australia, we used to dial 013. Now, depending on our carrier of choice, we use their branded directory service. All are billed as premium, value added offerings, which they are, but the charges are not insignificant. Most of the directory service work is outsourced to 3rd party companies like Service Stream anyway.

I actually think 12456 from Sensis is a good product. So is Vodafones. They either text you the result, tell the address or thru connect you to the number.

But here’s the thing. Google does all that - and its FREE. The following from Rule The Web (and image above courtesy same place).

Using their service, you can:

• search for a local business by name or category. You can say “Giovanni’s Pizzeria” or just “pizza”.

• get connected to the business, free of charge.

• get the details by SMS if you’re using a mobile phone. Just say “text message”. And it’s free. Google doesn’t charge you a thing for the call or for connecting you to the business. Regular phone charges may apply, based on your telephone service provider.

It’s inevitable that Google will offer and deploy this around the world. It just is. And wait for the total outrage by the carriers and the running off to the ACCC for protection when it finally does happen.

Good. I cant wait.

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This entry was posted on Monday, July 9th, 2007 at 11:28 pm and is filed under Google, News, Sensis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.