Google moving to hardware? - a speculation

It is always a question of curiosity about where Google is heading to. What began as a mere search engine is now well spread across viewing your apartment from space, organizing your computer desktop, scheduling your calendar, and a host of activities, almost one new one every week.

But, it is often speculated that Google cannot remain online for too long, and has to move offline at some point. This is because, its main competitor, Microsoft, is not only online, but also operates in the form of operating systems offline, and hence a wider scope for growth.

John Battelle, a Silicon Valley expert had a rather valid point on CBS Sixty minutes, which had last year featured Google on their programme. According to Battelle, the future of offline search, where Google could venture into could be something like this.

You have a device that looks very similar to a mobile phone. You visit a pasta store, and suspect it being overpriced. What you can do is wave the device over the products’ bar code. The reader reads it, and puts in a comparative price of pasta in three other shops within a distance of one mile.

Now, I believe this is very much a possibility in the next four-five years. This could also, as a consequence, lead to a price war, thus making the customer a winner.