Search Engines and VoIP: Why? - But Will it Work? And What Does it Mean?
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What we’re talking about here really isn’t new, it’s just the combination of technologies that is new. If a search engine purchases a VoIP company, and then proceeds to offer its search services with the VoIP services, it can be described as “vertical integration.” We have seen this before; in fact, vertical integration has a long history in business. However, it does not always work. The merger between AOL and Time Warner could be looked upon in some ways as one form of vertical integration, and it has not played out the way either company hoped.
Perhaps, though, economic terms such as “vertical integration” are too limited to describe what is going on here. It’s all well and good to use that term to describe an automobile maker that owns a glass company and a tire or rubber company. Does it make sense when you are talking about a service company that purchases other vehicles on which to offer its service? And what model, if any, can we use to predict the possibility of success?
Once it does happen, though, online companies who advertise with search engines should be excited, and justifiably so. It has the potential to open up whole new marketing vistas. Even better: if the service is delivered correctly, advertisers could actually become the heroes that deliver the deals when and where users want them most, rather than the annoying voice, billboard, or pop-up ad that interrupts the fun.
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