Final Word on Google/AOL…For Now
I’m all talked out about this whole Google/AOL deal, so I’m going to sum up my thoughts with some New Year’s predictions for 2006 and beyond…
- Google will enter into a deeper contractual relationship with Time Warner related to content, and will take full advantage of their new-found relationship with TWX;
- Google will somehow (through acquisition, spin-off, IPO, or some other means) make a lot of money off of the AOL deal (though this may not happen in 2006);
- Google will regret the current contractual terms they have entered into with AOL, and come this time next year, AOL will not have “preferred” placement on Google’s search results, and few vestiges of AOL (other than display ads in general) will remain on Google’s properties;
- Google will enter into a three-way partnership with Time Warner and one of the large telco or MSO carriers before announcing a huge television-related initiative that will (in theory) change the world of broadcast video.
Hey, this is my first blog prediction…time to start keeping score…