Coleman Jolley - Technology, SEO and Analytics

Google purchased Admob, the mobile ad group, this week for a reported $750 million USD. That's quite a chunk of money but not so much when you consider both the market they are buying AND the insight into telco network performance that comes with it.

Google is, of course, the largest revenue machine for online ads, through its contextual AdWords program. AdSense, the banner network it runs, is also a behemoth, thanks to the addition of Doubleclick. Admob brings the mobile platforms succinctly into the stable.

But Google is also a major player in the analytics game. Google Analytics, the reformed Urchin Analytics, is a stalwart among SMB and other players, and its pay-for-play professional version competes with Omniture and other real time players. However, no one quite understands how data can be deeply collected across all the wireless providers with consistency. Google neatly ties all that up with an acquisition that also generates revenue. Smart people.

In addition to my main site, colemanjolley.com, I am launching a new food oriented site that I will announce here next week. I will also restart this site as a running commentary about economics and politics, while my main site will concentrate more on technology.

Why choose when you can read all three?

Just a note - I have moved my blog postings to www.colemanjolley.com - please check me out there!

Image by via CrunchBaseAs the horrific attack in Mumbai exploded onto news feeds, I noticed a lot of traffic on FriendFeed from Twitter posts that were particularly unusual. Commenters pointed to news sources of all stripes - Flickr photo streams, bloggers writting from the scene and other Twits as they came out from the scene.

It quickly overtook mainstream news as the go-to source for at-the-scene information, while larger news outlets took up the task of providing official background - though often that was dissected and dismissed by those at the scene. CNN in particular seemed unsure of where to go or how to handle reporting.

When the larger news networks went blank at the requests of government forces, online sources kept on providing information. I think it was a watershed event for online news, when it bypassed the traditional reporter organizations with an open-source approach to reporting that they were never able to match.

Do you think they took commercial flights to DC for the weekend? I don't. And yet, they get $25billion cash, while laying off 50k.

Meanwhile, Obama's advisor Axelrod makes snarky comments about automakers traveling to DC on private jets in order to save over 1 million jobs. And they get nothing. To paraphrase Sigorney Weaver, who do I have to fuck to get a loan around here?

Or perhaps, better to ask: which lobbyists do we need to pay to be treated like Citibank while we protect even MORE jobs.

Oh, one more thing. The phrase "hit the ground running" is now officially retired from conversations of thought and good taste. Expect to hear it repeatedly from the lips of Wolf Blitzer for the next 90 days.

Image via WikipediaAnother Sunday, another backroom deal to guarantee assets of the wealthy with tax dollars. It must be the U.S. banking system at stake, yet again.

No surprises here, Citibank lobbies successfully for another chunk of the Troubled Assets fund, with little given up in return. Obama, hoping for an economy left to salvage, says relatively little but promises a relief package in the $400bn range upon taking office. Hope we can make it til then.

Despite the FDIC guarantee of over $300bn in deposits, no discussion among the media about Citibank's consumer credit card holdings. This is what is really at stake here. As millions are still without jobs, they long ago turned to credit cards as a way to supplement the inadequate government assistance of unemployment or welfare, much of it gutted by the Clinton administration currying favor with Reagan Democrats. (Oddly enough, they tended to represent the South which has been disproportionately hit by all of the destruction of "trickle down" economics, but that is for another posting.)

Now, as banks face their own liquidity issues and are tightening credit terms, many consumers are faced with the choice of paying down credit bills or buying food. Obviously they are choosing food. Defaults on unsecuritized debt held by banks are starting to trend upwards and - while little discussion has reached the mainstream media - the banks, analysts, economists and lobbyists are assuredly noticing. Sunday's giveaway to Citibank is a pro-active measure, not a remedy.

And despite all of this, retailers are putting on their game face and promising steep discounts on Black Friday. But, truthfully, they know that there won't be any buying on the busiest shopping day of the year. Already traders are lining up contacts within retail chains like Federated to hear early reports of the carnage so they can base their trading accordingly.

Image via CrunchBaseThere's a rumour floating around NYC today that Google is in talks with Citibank about a stake or ownership or some kind of deal. If so, not only does it create an interesting marriage of technology driving investment methodology, but perhaps signals a first blast across the bow for Google as it crosses into non-Internet related business models.

Discuss.