Last year, I remembered that Google was quietly developing a killer application code named Google Phone (I coined the term actually so please don’t go around tell everyone about that). This advertising giant had been quietly negotiating deals and partnering with Orange network (the largest Telco in England) to launch this product by late 2008 (that’s an estimation, could be much later).

Then, I predicted that one day, we can get real-time information in one single device we currently know as hand/mobile phone today. And most people think that a handphone is nothing more than an integration of devices such as phone, contact book, texting (sms), mp3 player, game machine, web browser - you named it.

And I think we’ve seen nothing yet.

From the perspective of businesses and consumer trends, we are all heading towards an era of super information age. So what has Google’s business vision got to do with your life?

In case you’ve been living in the mountains for the last 5 years, you wouldn’t have missed the rise of Google and how many millionaires Google has helped created and yet more (that’s you and me!) will come into the future!

Actually, Google’s vision to index every conceivable information on this planet earth has slowly materialize and gone beyond that ideology. Imagine Google combining Google Earth, Google Maps and world-wide Google Local (using Maps actually)… the world will turn upside down!

Think about that for a second and let that sink into your mind, for this is serious stuff I’m talking about here. Imagine every conceivable businesses to automatically jump at you when you think about it for your everyday needs, such as the grocery store, the post office, the bank, the nearest petrol kiosk, the nearest university or campus… you name it, Google got them nailed on your Google Phone like a GPS!

Am I crazy talking about such weird things?

Let me just show you some of the amazing things Google created recently. It’s called Google Streets View feature that is embedded in Google Maps. This feature looks strikingly similar to an earlier development made by some Chinese engineers in China, showing 3D rotation view of a small section of street in some provinces of China.

Google actually beat that by taking that step miles ahead of the Chinese and created a 3D view of almost ALL the streets in the United States of America!  That itself is an amazing feat really and I wondered how much resources Google took to get those pictures taken around the country!

Maybe very soon, Google Maps will index every streets here in Singapore and the rest of the world!  That can be quite spooky to think of if you happen to walk on the streets and get caught on the cameras!  Just imagine that your pictures will then live immortally in the data center archive in Mountain View California (home of Google data center).  Scary, NO?

Here is a picture of proof of the Hyde Street which I visited a couple of months back and the image is amazingly clear!

I can rotate and follow the street directions around the 3D map and see the surrounding buildings!  Imagine if you got a business and your advertisement can jump out of the map… this technology is darn powerful!

In case you think I’ve made this up, you can check out an introductory video clip Google released on YouTube during its launch on 29th May 2007.

You will need the latest Macromedia flash plugin for your web browser otherwise it will just simply shows an empty box above.

I think the work Google has done is just scratching the surface of what they can really do with all these information. Who knows one day we may be stuck to our mobile phone (if we still call it one by then) and too scared to leave home without it.

What do you think?

Let me hear your thoughts in a comment here and thanks a lot for reading! 

Have a wonderful weekend ahead!

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