

Don't be evil? Google's mobile services in Africa. - kakooljay

A recent article in The Economist discusses several mobile services in Africa, including Google Trader, "a text-based system that matches buyers and sellers of agricultural produce and commodities [in Uganda]. Sellers send a message to say where they are and what they have to offer, which will be available to potential buyers within 30km for seven days... These services cost 110 shillings ($0.05) a time, the same as a standard text message, except for Google Trader, which costs double that. In their first five weeks the services received a total of more than 1m queries."
[http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14483848]<p>So it sounds like Google charges twice as much as its competitors.. just wondering why...
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melling
Google's service must be better, right? Otherwise, people would just pay half
the price. What exactly is wrong with charging a fair price in a competitive
market. They might even be able to take some of those extra nickels, hire more
people and build even more services.

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kakooljay
I believe in free markets too (I'm an economist + engineer). But Google, which
professes to "not be evil" & is making peanuts on these services, could have
set a great example (and not risked damaging publicity)..

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byoung2
If the service is superior to their competitors' offerings, there is nothing
wrong with charging a premium. Actually, when you think of it, charging a
lower price might be more evil if it undercuts the competition and puts them
out of business (a la Walmart).

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fmendez
I would have agreed with your argument about not lowering the price if your
offering is superior, but aren't we talking about a very poor country? doesn't
Google have enough $$ to make a concession? (I'm not talking about giving the
service for free just low enough to match competition).

