EightBlack.

Fast is one of those companies that a lot of us probably have never heard of.

One, they’re based in Oslo, Norway. And second, they’re essentially in the “enterprise search” space, meaning they want customers who are big public companies with big budgets and who won’t collapse when they receive their first bill for services rendered.

Ok, I’m being harsh. By all accounts, Fast are a very slick outfit.

And as of yesterday, the founders and shareholders are now US$1.2 billion better off. Because that’s the amount they just accepted from Microsoft.

For some strange reason, I would have thought they were worth more. Their intellectual capital, human capital, sheer focus and global coverage is extremely impressive. Maybe there’s not much to spend $1.2 billion on in Norway…

Anyway.

Fast is the same company who built the search engine technology for Sensis.com.au.

Good on Microsoft for getting this deal done. It’s a perfect fit given Microsoft’s firm grip on the corporate and enterprise market and it’s probably Redmond’s most important search related acquisition to date.

And shame on Google for not getting in there first.

I was fortunate enough to run into a couple of the Sensis guys last night at MODM.

One of the WhereIs team members told me about their new Beta.

There’s some cool new features, the interface is cleaner and easier to use than the previous version, and surprisingly, the resolution at street level is clearer than Google Earth.

I tested it both on a Mac and a PC in both IE7 and FireFox. I thought the interface was a little too sensitive, when you zoomed in and out, but it might have just been my Mac wireless mouse (or the fact that I drank too much Asahi last night).

I’d like to see a “Email Me The Directions” and/or “Send to Mobile”. That functionality just makes sense.

WhereIs is one of those businesses that is highly undervalued at Sensis. And by the sounds of it, malnourished and starved of resource. Apparently there are only 6 or so folks within the team. Which is ridiculous.

Last week, Nokia swallowed a horse by paying US$8.1 billion or so for Navteq, the GPS and mapping company. That acquisition dwarfed what Tom Tom paid for Netherlands based Tele-Atlas at just over US$2.55 billion. These two acquisitions should send strong signals to the Sensis management.

I’ve worked with Nokia in the past when I was with a big, lumbering Telco in Europe and remember visiting Nokia in Espoo, Finland. To be honest, there’s not much there so perhaps the senior Finns at Nokia were bored - or that the phone the M&A team were on had some VOIP issues and they meant to say US$800 million and the Chicago based boys at Navteq misheard them and thought they said “billions” and started high fiving each other as they faxed across the LOI. Most Americans I know only work in billions anyway. Millions is for the peasants.

Anyway, back to Sensis.

WhereIs is clearly one of the businesses that Sol needs to invest in. The mapping application of WhereIs is powering most if not all of the Aussie based GPS systems. They should dominate this space. There’s no excuse not to.

Sensis needs to spin off businesses like WhereIs, give them a truckload of money, so they can attract the best talent they can and build out the only worthwhile mapping option in Australia. They’re close with the WhereIs Mobile, Navigator and Business API silos but there needs to be more seamless integration.

They should leave the Yellow and White Directory boys to their own self destructive devices and let them go and think they can protect and fortify their dwindling print revenues on their own. Knock yourself out is all I can say.

And I know I have harped on this long enough - but obviously Sol is not listening (and he wont return my calls!). Sensis has no business being in the general search space with Sensis.com.au and it needs to acknowledge this. Its simply throwing good money after bad and given that in Australia, Google has 85% of the search market, followed by Yahoo! and Microsoft Live, Sensis has two fifths of sweet eff all left.

More importantly, its not innovating in the search space. Telling people that by using Sensis search, they have helped save the Innabooka Dwarf Tribe from extinction because now instead of all these harmful emissions being pumped into their treehouse, its being pumped into the Pacific Ocean. Or something like that.

There are some genuinely bright people at Sensis who still have a passion for what they do. They need to be encouraged to compete (and be given the tools to do so).

Now, this has to be the most insane thing I’ve heard for a while. It’s hit the airwaves all over the place. Here and here for a start.

When I first read it, I thought - oh, it must be an April Fools’ joke. But then I thought, (no matter how jet-lagged I am at present), that we are in July. Nope, cant be that then.

Here’s the crux of it.

The ACCC - the consumer watchdog in Australia is pissed at Google and the Trading Post. And it has, in its’ wisdom, decided to “make a jolly good example” of both these upstarts and take them to court. And while they’re at it, demand legal costs.

From the ACCC website:

The ACCC is alleging that Trading Post contravened sections 52 and 53(d) of the Trade Practices Act 1974 in 2005 when the business names “Kloster Ford” and “Charlestown Toyota” appeared in the title of Google sponsored links to Trading Post’s website. Kloster Ford and Charlestown Toyota are Newcastle car dealerships who compete against Trading Post in automotive sales.

The ACCC is also alleging that Google, by causing the Kloster Ford and Charlestown Toyota links to be published on its website, engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct in breach of section 52 of the Act.

Further, the ACCC is alleging that Google, by failing to adequately distinguish sponsored links from “organic” search results, has engaged and continues to engage in misleading and deceptive conduct in breach of section 52 of the Act.

The ACCC is seeking:

• declarations that Trading Post contravened sections 52 and 53(d) of the Act
• declarations that Google contravened section 52 of the Act
• injunctions restraining Trading Post from representing through sponsored links an association, sponsorship or affiliation with another business where one does not exist
• injunctions restraining Google from publishing sponsored links of advertisers representing an association, sponsorship or affiliation where one does not exist
• injunctions restraining Google from publishing search results that do not expressly distinguish advertisements from organic search results
• orders that Trading Post and Google implement trade practices compliance programs
• an order that Google publish a notice on its website outlining the above, and
• costs.

The matter has been listed for a directions hearing in the Federal Court, Sydney, on 21 August 2007 before Justice Allsop.

This is the first action of its type globally. Whilst Google has faced court action overseas, particularly in the United States, France and Belgium, this generally has been in relation to trademark use. Although the US anti-trust authority the Federal Trade Commission has examined similar issues, the ACCC understands that it is the first regulatory body to seek legal clarification of Google’s conduct from a trade practices perspective.

Has Graeme Samuel, the head of the ACCC, lost his freaking mind???

Maybe this happened. Maybe Samuel and a few of his colleagues were around at his place on the weekend and at around 3am, as he was fumbling around in the cellar for a ‘73 Grange (why by the way do you always drink the most expensive grog when you are either too drunk to know better, or worse, your mates are all on the verge of passing out). I digress. Sorry.

Anyway, so he’s fumbling around in the cellar and then he shouts to the people still awake “Hey, shit, here’s a good idea. Lets take Google and the Trading Post to court”. Or something like that.

Google’s corporate counsel in the US must be shaking in their boots.

Here’s what I predict will happen. It will get tossed on day one. And Samuel and his consumer watchdog will be about as intimidating as a neutered chihuahua.

I don’t even reckon it will make Kent Walker’s inbox. Kent by the way is Google’s Head Legal Counsel. From his bio, (he’s ex eBay, Oracle and Netscape)

Earlier in his career, Kent was an Assistant U.S. Attorney with the United States Department of Justice, where he specialized in the prosecution of technology crimes and advised the Attorney General on management and technology issues.

Google is no stranger to litigation. You have to expect it when you are the hottest technology company on the planet. The Federal Trade Commission has had a crack at the search giant, so have some wayward folks in France and Belgium. In all cases, guess who really won. Ok, Google may have been “slapped on the wrist” and forced to pay a small fine in a few of these cases, but in the end, they didn’t have to make the far reaching fundamental change(s) to their core business model that the ACCC is demanding they do. (The AFP statement is here and Danny Sullivan has detailed coverage of the Belgium case details here).

God, I hope Battelle or Scoble weigh in on this. It’s just madness.

Let me try and be rational for a moment and talk about one of the real issues at hand.

The ACCC believe “that Google, by failing to adequately distinguish sponsored links from “organic” search results, has engaged and continues to engage in misleading and deceptive conduct in breach of section 52 of the Act.”

The fact that Google actually displays “Sponsored Link” at the top of the page (above the organic results) and to the right is obviously not clear enough. Not to the ACCC anyway. Google even highlight the sponsored link section above the organic results in a shaded colour in many instances.

Google has changed its stance on trademark since its launch here. For example, online travel sites used to bid on the keyword “Qantas” as a part of their adwords strategy. It made sense. Qantas, as it had a right to do, complained to Google and now, the travel sites can no longer bid on trademarked names - like Qantas, Virgin Blue, Jetstar etc.

Look at this screenshot below. Can you not see “sponsored link”. Twice. At the top of the page. I even worked out how to use the “circle” function in paint when I inserted the image. Sorry about the clarity of the image - click on it and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Google has clearly complied with not only making it crystal clear regarding sponsored and organic listings, but also with reference to trade-mark.

This is one case I’m going to follow for a while now. It’s also one case where I truly hope Richard Kimber, the head of Google in Asia Pac calls up Sol Trujillo, Telstra’s gun slinging CEO and the ultimate head of Sensis (the owner of the Trading Post) and combines their legal might and legally belts the crap out of the ACCC.

Wait till Phil Burgess, Telstra’s Group Managing Director, Public Policy and Communications gets a hold of this. Burgess in full flight makes Idi Amin look restrained.

It’s just nonsense. The case on its multiple points, has no legal merit (and I’m no lawyer). All it will do will ensure that the partners of the top law firms are able to have a very expensive and lavish Xmas party somewhere overseas now (instead of locally).

And Graeme Samuel may well end up learning how to create a profile on Seek.com.au.

Over to you now…

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.

It’s a pity that Sensis have put The Trading Post on the block.

Distribution is down by an alleged 25% from last year and revenues have fallen 7% in the 6 months to December.

Reports are saying that the A$636 million they paid for it wont be exceeded when a buyer is ultimately found for the asset. There’s good coverage here and here.

It’s a pity. Sensis is getting out of the wrong business. They’ve got the skills and resource (or at least did) to make a go of The Trading Post.

What they don’t have are the skills and talent to be in the search space. They need to accept that fact. And fast.

More importantly, what worries me most is the talent that continues to jump off the Sensis ship. John King, the most senior executive at The Trading Post, recently cleared out his desk.

I for one, would love to know why.

Well that’s the rumour over here.

Apparently, all is not well at Sensis but this is old news. The departures last month of John Coates, CFO, John King, Head of the Trading Post and Cam Rojo, National Sales Manager doesn’t send great signals to the market. Bringing in another outsider just rubs salt into the wound - (Trujillo has appointed Carol Johnson, former sales director at US West Direct, to run the print and online Yellow and White Pages business at Sensis).

Alex Parsons (ex Group Head of Sensis Search) left long ago and is probably already well settled in over at NineMSN - and knowing how switched on Alex is with search, I’m betting any tie up between the 2 companies will have Alex’s handiwork all over it.

Does this mean that finally Sensis are admitting to their shareholders that their foray into the search market has failed? Surely they cant keep convincing even their most loyal customers that their search query volume is ever going to become useful to any real advertiser.

Where does that leave the Yellow Pages?

It must be a frustrating place to work. So much potential. So little direction.

And all led by a chief executive in Sol Trujillo whose famous last words “Google, Schmoogle…” will no doubt come back and bite him in the arse. Hard. It will take more than a tie up between the local NineMSN and Sensis to right this ship.

PS. It’s done.