Posted on 08/22/2006 12:44:00 PM PDT by nickcarraway
An American online calendar company has been forced to put itself up for sale on eBay after the internet giant Google moved into its space with a rival product. The demise of Kiko.com, which has gone up for sale with a reserve price of $49,999, has raised questions about the growing threat posed by "Google-creep".
The company, based in Mountain View, California, is increasingly moving into areas only loosely connected with its core search engine product. As well as letting its engineers experiment with their own pet projects, Google has extensive financial resources that it can throw at new business areas.
This has generated several successful spin-offs such as the email service Gmail. The company has also started developing its own desktop applications, though it runs them as web-hosted services. Its own team recently launched a test spreadsheet application and, in March, it bought the word-processing application Writely. While strengthening Google's position against rivals such as Microsoft, the company's development power creates a headache for start-up companies. It only takes Google to experiment in a particular online area to kill off fledgling businesses. That appears to be what happened to Kiko. Google launched a test version of its Google Calendar application in April, and that seems to have rung the death knell for Kiko.
The founders of Kiko, which is one of the growing band of so-called web 2.0 applications, have put the site's domain name, web hosting account and its intellectual property up for sale on eBay in an auction that ends on Saturday.
On the eBay site, the founders, Justin Kan and Emmett Shear, say: "We are selling Kiko because we want to have time to work on other projects as a development team.""
(Excerpt) Read more at business.guardian.co.uk ...
And how about that filthy Yahoo Calendar? Is there no end to the number of calendar programs on the web? What is poor Kiko.com to do? Phooey!
I prefer the laminated ones that you can put on a wall and write on. Imagine just being able to tell at a glance when you have to do something instead of maybe turning on your computer and logging in to your calendar. Sometimes virtual things can't improve on real things.
I agree. I remember back in 1999 when they said that Amazon was going to be the end of places like Barnes & Noble and Borders, the idea was that why would anyone go out and buy a book or a DVD when they could just order it online. I never went along with it, it always seemed easier to me to just swing by the store (that I drove by on my way to work anyway), get the book or movie I wanted, when I wanted.
"Kiko.com never got the main selling point of calendars- put puppies on the cover!
"
Only if they're being held by naked women. Having grown up hanging around an auto shop my dad owned, I have particular tastes in calendars. Puppies are OK, as long as they don't obscure the view of those other puppies.
Geez, has anybody Googled "calendars" and seen how much software is available out there? Maybe this Kiko software wasn't worth much anyway. They are only asking $49,000 for it.
I just Google'd "Google-creep" without really wanting to.
DAMN YE GOOGLE GODS!! Give my back my autonomy!!!
You still drive to work? That's so like 1999, man.
So maybe Rigid Tool ought to buy Kiko.com.
"It reminds me of AT&T / Bell Labs years ago. Lots of cash to throw around, groundbreaking research, pet projects....and look at them now."
AT&T/Bell Labs was destroyed by an activist judge, not competition.
I could work out of my house, but that would just be ten more hours a day for my wife to nag me!
Point well taken!
Fixed it for you. :-)
Actually, I really am joking. As others have pointed out, there are dozens, if not hundreds of calendar programs out there. Hell, with an apache server and webdav, you can create your own!
This article is a non-story.
or Apple fans...
True, though my point remains. No more AT&T/Bell Labs. Some judge'll probably take offense with Google just like AT&T, though it'll be interesting to see how Google users react.
Ok so we have at least one on here. Are there any more anti-M$ folks, but loving google for similiar behavior?
No it's still google creep and when the big boys see what you're doing and like it...you pray they buy you out for big bucks. If they choose to compete with you...you generally lose. M$ does it, IBM does it, and now google.
"No it's still google creep and when the big boys see what you're doing and like it...you pray they buy you out for big bucks. If they choose to compete with you...you generally lose. M$ does it, IBM does it, and now google.
"
Utter nonsense. Google, itself, started as a tiny little company run by a couple of college kids. It was competing with giants. It grew into a large company. Why? Because it was a good concept, executed well, and flexible enough to alter its business model as the situation demanded.
Like Yahoo, they want email, a calendar, and other things to offer their users.
There's nothing unique about a calendar on a web site. I've been using the Yahoo calendar and its email service for years now.
A small company will have a tough row to hoe if all it has to offer is a calendar program. That's too narrow a business model, and is bound to fail. Google's not the problem here. It's the narrow, limited view of the folks that started the little calendar site.
Google started as a tiny company with huge competitors. It won. Now it's an evil company? I don't think so.
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