October 31st, 2009
GOOG is not making phones or buying newspapers
Google’s Andy Rubin, head of the company’s Android development, would like to clear something up: Google is not in the phone-making business.
Google: We’re not making Android hardware
On October 20 I wrote: There is no Google phone
I didn’t need to call up Google to ask, I knew there was no Google phone because I have been reporting on the company since its very beginnings and know and have met their founders and most of their top executives.
Every company has a core philosophy and culture and once you understand it it helps to guide your reporting.
The Street.com originated a story that Google is working on a phone. It clearly does not understand the company.
Google is not building an Android phone, nor will it buy a newspaper, like some have said it should buy the New York Times. Google doesn’t need to be in the phone business or in the newspaper business — it can benefit from other companies being in those businesses.
People think that companies can jump from one business into another. Companies are like trains on a track — once they are on one track it is very difficult to shunt them onto another track — even if it is an adjacent track. Even if it makes good business sense (which in both these Google examples does not make good business sense.)
Tom Foremski reports on the business and culture of Silicon Valley at the intersection of technology and media. He also writes at Silicon Valley Watcher. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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