Google to Offer Video Downloads, Software That Rivals Microsoft's
Google Inc. plans to announce Friday that it will begin allowing consumers to buy videos from major content partners through the Google site and will also roll out a new downloadable bundle of software for consumers …
Context & Ripple Effects
Google's Friday announcement lands squarely in CES week, when Bill Gates is scheduled to deliver Microsoft's opening keynote — a timing choice that reads as deliberate provocation. The Wall Street Journal report traveled fast: Ars Technica framed it as Google taking on Apple while unveiling 'Google Pack,' while finfacts, Om Malik, and Techdirt all picked the story up within a day, with Techdirt and Om Malik zeroing in on the DRM question — whether Google is building content locks into its video store.
The rumor mill had already been running hot ahead of the news: Google PR chief David Krane publicly denied speculation about a 'Google Cube' PC, and Google and Wal-Mart jointly denied reports of a low-cost Google PC sold through Wal-Mart stores. What survived those denials is narrower but still significant — confirmed plans for paid video downloads from major content partners plus a downloadable consumer software bundle positioned against Microsoft's offerings.
First-order effects
- Major content partners gain a new high-traffic storefront for paid video downloads, putting Google in direct competition with Apple's iTunes video business on day one.
- Consumers get Google Pack, a free downloadable software bundle that undercuts the paid desktop utilities and applications Microsoft has long charged for.
Second-order effects
- Microsoft's CES messaging now has to contend with a rival announcing content-plus-software plays during Gates's own keynote window, pressuring the company to defend its bundled-software franchise rather than just demo new products.
- If Google's store ships with its own DRM, as Techdirt and Om Malik's commentary anticipate, content owners face yet another incompatible protection format — fragmenting the paid-download market and handing leverage to whichever platform aggregates the most buyers.
Third-order effects
- The move marks Google's push beyond advertising-funded search into paid media distribution and client-side software, eroding the web-services/desktop-software boundary that Microsoft's core business depends on.
- A DRM-heavy download model carries real consumer-acceptance risk; if buyers reject locked files, pressure builds toward rental or streaming alternatives — though which model wins remains genuinely unsettled.
The trend: Search-era platforms are expanding from ad-funded search into paid content distribution and bundled desktop software, forcing head-on collisions with Apple in media and Microsoft in software.