Why is Google interested in mobile space?
The mobile space is not only a lucrative business to get in but also provides a strategic fit to Google. Mobile industry is in many ways similar to the PC industry but in terms of evolution, it still has a long way to go. The ecosystem of mobile industry is not as open as that of the PC industry and hence Google feels that it will not be able to push its internet services as freely as it would like to on the mobile. Moreover, there is a growing realization that the future of internet is on mobile phones as the mobile phone user base is four times that of current internet user base. For many in emerging markets, the first internet experience is likely to be on a mobile phone and hence it is important for Google to expand into the mobile space and that too in emerging markets. The mobile internet penetration is low in emerging nations and therefore there is a need to launch SMS based services to be able to reach a larger base. Google can later expand the SMS based services to it existing
