

Google's Flipboard Competitor: Propeller - schlichtm
http://allthingsd.com/20110915/its-called-google-propeller-and-its-aimed-at-flipboard-and-facebook-too/

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cfinke
A social news app called Propeller? It'll never work.
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propeller.com>)

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EwanG
AOL used to have a news site called Propeller. AM I the only one who finds it
confusing that Google doesn't know/care?

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Adaptive
I'd be more in Flipboard's corner on this if they had an Android app.

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eekfuh
Looks like I need to release my flipboard-esque competitor soon.
<http://yfrog.com/h440970584p> <http://yfrog.com/mg3ahp>

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suking
Google is going to make a ton of enemies (probably too late) if they keep
going after every god damn idea. Damn - make your results better.

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rjd
I've had a few friends and myself go through this. What generally happens is
Google flounders and fails. They are extraordinarily bad at launching products
and even worse at building momentum. Kind of like Microsoft really... I guess
its something to do with getting to big, to much bureaucracy.

Its more or less a validation of your product, and probably won't hurt your
product if its already got momentum. Hell even gmail hasn't even toppled Yahoo
or hotmail and most would agree its Googles second strongest product.

If you don't have momentum however you're screwed. People won't take you
seriously and if you need backing or help its going to damage you. This
happened to me last year, I have a fully completed product ready to go live, I
just hung back and waited for Google to nose dive. I think I'll launch in a
few months as I have another project I want to finish first.

If they get a foot hold as they did with maps, you're stuffed. I had a group
of friends running mapping companies similar to google maps, but years before
hand. One company doesn't exist any more, another moved into a support
structure and has managed to survive.. but its not really what the people
wanted to do... its what they had to become to survive.

The thing about Google is you have no chance of competing as they release
products below production costs by shifting money around. You can't compete.
but like I said Google is full of fail ... launching around 1000 products a
year... seems every 2-3 years they have one that actually works...

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chugger
_At the time, sources said, Google told Flipboard execs that if it did not buy
the start-up, it planned to do a version of its own._

This kind of 90's era Microsoft-style predatory tactics from Google is hurting
innovation in the Valley more than patents. Small companies with innovative
products are at the mercy of Google.

No wonder Apple, MS, Oracle, etc. are suing Google for patent infringement.
Can you blame them?

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yanw
It's always buy v build, the rest of your comment doesn't make sense.

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chugger
Google is a copy cat.

Yelp, Groupon, Facebook, Twitter, Skyhook, Flipboard.

See any pattern?

Does it make sense now?

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kkowalczyk
Facebook is a copycat (Friendster, MySpace, Orkut etc.)

Yelp is a copycat (CitySearch etc.).

Groupon probably isn't the first deal site.

If we didn't have VisiCalc and 1-2-3 and Excel, we wouldn't have Apple's
Keynote.

That's how this industry works: large enough markets attract multiple
companies. Increased competition causes all players to step up their game and
lower their prices. This benefits consumer i.e. you and me.

This is exactly how things are supposed to work.

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brfox
Innovation is the commercialization of a good idea. So, the ideas are easy to
come by, but combining the good idea and the commercialization is what really
makes something innovative.

