Google Inc (GOOG) Wages Preemptive War

But, Apple has soldiered on with Apple Maps, just like Microsoft is even though Google dominates this market. And there is a very good reason for taking this long approach. A study by Strategy Analytics estimates that location-based revenue will reach $6 billion by 2017 and all of the big mobile players are angling for a slice of that pie.

Looking at the future

Another piece of the Google Maps revamp was that ads now play a more prominent role in the service; they now get overlaid directly on the map over the location of the advertiser. Even though Google dominates this market, they are demonstrating how forward thinking they are with this overhaul of a product that was already completely functional.

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is leap frogging their competition, Bing Maps risks losing Facebook as a partner, Apple Maps had a very rocky start that is still hurting their reputation, and Waze risks losing focus as acquisition talks sweep through the rumor mill.

Complete integration

Adding additional data from other Google services will make their ecosystem even stickier, preventing users from jumping ship for a taste of Apple. And even on platforms other than Android and Chrome, Google can still serve you ads and collect data to feed their never ending hunger for information.

Google executives like to say that the more people use the internet, the more Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) wins. The new Google Maps will become one more example of that.

The article Google Wages Preemptive War originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by David Danna.

David Danna has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Apple, Facebook, and Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft. David is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network — entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.

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