Old Content:

Sweet, GOOG-411! (Stop Complaining People)

October 2, 2007 by Kyle Brady
Tags: Business, Google, Technology
As required by the FTC, a Full Disclosure is available - this piece adheres to the Code of Ethics

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Everyone's complaining about GOOG411 these days. The real question is: why?

Google has a habit of releasing their new products whenever they feel like it, and in what they consider a BETA stage. (In reality, the products are more like a fully developed v1.0, but that's beside the point.) After a unusually short gestation period, the products are removed from BETA and advertised in some fashion to the general public... and destroy the competition.

Everyone in the tech industry/Silicon Valley knows this. So when GOOG-411 became more than a semi-unknown secret, why did people come out of nowhere with a bunch of complaints? Not only are many of their complaints stupid and pointless, they're also not even related to how wonderful the service is.

Until now, if you wanted a 411/info service that was free, you had to call a number that was either heavily ad supported, or not of a high caliber. Until now, only people "in the know" were aware of Google's phone services (GOOG-411, and the text message version... send a message to "GOOGL").

Here's how it works:

1. You call GOOG-411


2. You hear a very enthusiastic voice saying the name of the service


3. A soothing voice asks you for a city and state


4. It again asks you for what you're looking for


5. It tells you the results


6. You can have the number texted to you


7. You can hear more information about the place


8. You can have it auto-dial the number

What, in the name of Odin, is wrong with that? I have never once encountered an advertisement. I have never thought "hmm that was totally annoying and a terrible service, because for 3.5 seconds at the beginning someone said the name of what I just called". The only thing I've ever thought was "Oh, sweet. It gave me the number I wanted as the first result, and I didn't have to memorize it to call them! Thanks, Google!"

So here's my general comment to all of you: Stop Complaining. It's free. It's Google. It's much more than adequate... it's great. Until you build something of significant status, you're only allowed to complain when the service/product is not as advertised.

And in this case, it is exactly as advertised.

Old Content posts are leftovers from a less structured, less civilzed era that are kept for posterity.
Kyle can be found on Twitter and MySpace, or reached via email.