Google Opens Video Store

[rustybrick]

http://video.google.com/
http://video.google.com/videostore

Of course Gary Price has an excellent write up at http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060109-223133

Can it compete with the others? Will it dominate?

[rogerd]

I like the idea of getting surfers used to micropayments (or at least minipayments ) for specific content. If people get used to spending a tiny amount of money for something they want to see or read, and if payment mechanisms evolve that don't involve complex checkout processes, a whole new world of monetization opens up to web publishers.

I think Google CAN dominate in video other than commercial movies, if they make a big push in that direction. Once legal movie downloading takes off, though, I think Netflix will be a formidable competitor for anyone entering that space. They already have a world-class interface for managing DVD rentals that would be trivial to adapt to downloads. As I've written/blogged in the past, a lot of Netflix's strength comes from using their community knowledge and collaborative filtering to steer customers to movies they'll like (and that aren't scarce New Releases). Very Web 2.0, even if the recommendation engine currently gravitates to very popular selections.

[samd]

Interestingly the Google Video Player is not (as far as I can tell) back in the Google Pack. Maybe it will be added over the coming days. It makes sense to get all the downloads at once to encourage more people to download the videos.

Although there is still this page: http://pack.google.com/product_video.html