Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) bought city guide app creator Jetpac and immediately announced it would withdraw its product from Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) store. The battle between the two app stores continues to heat up.
Jetpac has a model that it describes in two ways:
We can spot lipstick, blue sky views, hipster mustaches and more, through advanced image processing on billions of photos.
Jetpac City Guides is a visual guide to local recommendations for over 6,000 cities all around the world, from San Francisco to Kathmandu.
And,
No endless lists or reviews homework. People vote places up by sharing photos on Instagram.
Jetpac City Guides are fun Top Ten lists ranked by Snappyness Rating. The top Hipster Bar in San Francisco by Snappyness is the one with the most photos and photos of Hipsters shared.
The beauty of the business model is that Jetpac does not pay anything for this “content,” and the small enterprise is probably, therefore, inexpensive to run.
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Google needs more products to enhance its Maps service, and probably Google Wallet, and its Android OS, which runs on millions of smartphones. These phones represent the next generation of search, off the PC and into the broader, movable world.
Jetpac is another example of a company that Google likely did not pay much for. Reuters reports that no price was disclosed. It can become part of Google’s laboratory of products, which can be enhanced or rejected. Google is famous for scavenging. The search company looks for small operations that will support its largest initiatives. Based on Google’s earnings, there is no evidence that these small acquisitions make money. And, with tens of billions of dollars in the bank, Google’s risk in the M&A realm is very limited.
So, Jetpac will be promoted in Google’s App store. If downloads show it is popular and enhances Google’s reach in local services, it will stay. Google’s history is that if it does not do these things, it will quietly go away.
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