Judging Google's book strategy

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TOO EARLY TO JUDGE: Is Google brave or stupid by trying to digitise the world's books?

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OPINION: "You can make money without doing evil." So says giant US internet company Google in its corporate mission statement. But it is beating up on revered Kiwi authors like Janet Frame in trying to digitise the world's books. Is Google brave or a stupid marketer?

Google's book project is an effort to scan and make available online the world's books. It is generating huge controversy here and overseas. Kiwi author Lynley Hood was recently reported as saying Google was stealing authors' intellectual property and their livelihood.

The book search service is available in 35 languages with around 10 million books in the library and counting. Google is experimenting with some amazing functionality - letting people browse books by locations mentioned in the text and creating ways to navigate between books. People can now even create their own book collection online.

It is a complicated story, but fundamentally Google has taken an "it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission" approach. Basically, if a book is not available for sale in United States, Google considers it out of print and therefore within its rights to scan and use without permission.

Google has processed books by Kiwi authors Janet Frame, Hone Tuwhare, Sir Edmund Hillary, Witi Ihimaera, Michael King, James K Baxter and Keri Hulme, all without any permission from anyone.

Authors are up in arms here and overseas and the issue is subject of court action in New York state.

Of course controversy is not new for Google. The company has pushed the boundaries before, with services like Google Street View in 2007, which gave us street-level images of our cities.

Formed with a mission "to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful", Google has grown from a startup based at the Stanford University into a US$30 billion company - equivalent to about one quarter of New Zealand's economy.

The search engine service that was its first offering was unlike anything else available at the time. It wasn't packed with flashing advertisements and it delivered very good search results. Users flocked to it, and the rest is history. Once advertisements were introduced into the service the company found a great revenue stream and started to diversify into many other things, including "gmail" email, mapping the world, news tracking and picture storage. Last year Google released a web browser called Chrome and is now developing that product into an operating system - the basic software for any computer - that plays right in Microsoft's space.

Google has been seen by many as the shining hero against Bill Gates' evil empire.

But has Google Books overstepped the mark? Is this Google becoming a big monopoly that starts to play by different rules, or is there a lesson for all Kiwi companies to be more aggressive in their approach?

They have copied millions of books then asked for forgiveness. It is possible that the value Google delivers to us outweighs our concerns about abusing its power.

Information has been made a lot more accessible which has benefited us all. The company has also created platforms, like Google Maps, that other providers build on to provide useful services.

Remember, many earlier innovations have challenged our perceptions and caused legal action. The first motorcars were seen as so dangerous that a person holding a red flag was required to walk in front of them. But manufacturers like Ford persevered against opposition from stagecoach and railroad companies, and popularised the car.

Closer to home was the recent launch of the Christchurch-made YikeBike at EuroBike in Germany. It challenges convention about what a bike is, and therefore what safety regulations apply to it, but that hasn't deterred those entrepreneurs having a go and trying to change the world of transportation.

Although it is too early to judge the effect of Google Books, controversies over Google Street View have done no harm to the brand. According to the major Interbrand study, the Google brand leapt from 20th to 10th most valuable in the world between 2007 and 2008.

Maybe there are lessons for us all to focus on delivering on our company mission, the fundamental way we deliver value to our stakeholders, rather than worry about rules and regulations. Google has done this in the past and delivered a lot of good for a lot of people, including the company's shareholders.

Delivering value to consumers is what great marketing is all about. Often the innovations that create the most value challenge our perceptions of the conventional and upset entrenched interests. And Google is certainly upsetting people.

* Owen Scott is from marketing company Concentrate Limited. www.concentrate.co.nz

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