Neil Hughes
Almost any display, from the wrist to the wall, could be fair game for Google to send advertisements, the company has admitted in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, going as far as to say that even refrigerators could one day serve Google AdSense to their users.
Google's list of potential new advertising opportunities was detailed in a letter to the SEC in December, in which the search giant attempted to justify why it shouldn't disclose revenue generated from mobile devices. The SEC has requested that Google and other mobile companies, including Facebook and Twitter, offer investors more detail on their mobile revenue, according to The Wall Street Journal.
But Google doesn't believe it should be obligated to disclose that data, as the company noted that its services — including advertisements — Â could appear on a "wide diversity of devices in the future."
In addition to refrigerators, Google said it could also serve up ads on car dashboards, thermostats, glasses and watches, "just to name a few possibilities."
"Our expectation is that users will be using our services and viewing our ads on an increasingly wide diversity of devices in the future, and thus our advertising systems are becoming increasingly device-agnostic," the filing reads.
Motorola's Moto 360 Andoid Wear-powered smart watch | Source: Google
The mention of thermostats is of particular interest, as Google bought Nest Labs, maker of a smart thermostat, for $3.2 billion earlier this year. Nest was founded by ex-Apple executive Tony Fadell, and the company's products were featured prominently in Apple's own retail stores prior to the Google acquisition.
The mention of glasses and watches is no surprise, as Google is betting heavily on the future of wearable devices, through both its Google Glass project, as well as its forthcoming Android Wear platform. And Google is even dabbling in self-driving cars, which would explain the mention of vehicle dashboards.
Perhaps the most bizarre mention, then, is of a so-called "Google Refrigerator," signaling that the company may be looking to go well beyond the thermostat in building a connected home with advanced appliances.
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Wesley Hilliard
AppleInsider Staff
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
127 Comments
Didn't we all see this coming. This alone will kill sales of these devices. As cool as something like the Nest Thermostat is, I don't believe people will want a Google Ad on their thermostat and I doubt most would pay extra to not have ads. This is something that shouldn't have ads in the first place. Nest killed shot themselves in the foot as soon as they partnered with Google.
I don't need a Kraft Mac n Cheese ad running on the fridge when I go to open it. My kitchen isn't a friggin' Wal-mart. I don't need to be persuaded to purchase something every time I open the refrigerator door.
There are places for ads to be and wearable devices, appliances, and cars are not it. Google is throwing mud at the wall with all of this with hopes that something sticks.
And the geek filth legion will bend over backward defending their deity. Meanwhile, Google's core product, Internet search, has become useless. Seriously, it's substituting words nowhere near what I entered.
The "Google Refrigerator" concept isn't surprising at all if one considers the number of individual uses/interactions one has with the appliance in any day. Whereas a television or computer may get more total hours of viewing time, the number of discrete views of a refrigerator is far greater, and goes up with the number of inhabitants in the dwelling. As a matter of fact, in many households the refrigerator features messages, reminders, and the kids' art gallery. Completely unsurprising, I don't understand why AppleInsider sees this as bizarre. Google's core product is AdWords, >90% of their revenue comes from AdWords. That's what they sell.
No thanks!
LOL, Three Nest Thermostats for sale!