Google programmable search

I always had this notion that one day Google will start serving as a product catalogue for businesses wherein especially small businesses/individual sellers can showcase their products and have the option of selling through the Google site. I initially had this idea when Google released the "Google checkout" payment system. The payment system was not inline with any of their then products and just seemed as an odd venture for Google however the whole view of serving as a product catalogue striked me and it all made sense.

Infact you can already see the beginnings of it at the site. If you run the query "real estate” followed by a ZIP code, you’ll get the option of seeing a different type of result set which shows a list of homes available for sale from real-estate agents who paid a fee, with a map showing where the homes are. This basically serves as a real-estate catalogue. Add Google checkout to this scenario and voila!!! that serves as a complete e-commerce site. This will sure affect the likes of portals such as Amazon, EBay, Yahoo Shopping etc where small businesses/individual sellers can open storefronts and sell their products. Google is at an advantage here given its popularity with search which gives it access to users researching a product to find out about available inventory at nearby retailers.

Google already has a product called "Froogle" which serves as a comparison shopping site and where businesses can submit product feeds howoever google is coming up with something called "Programmable search engine (PSE)" (from what people have observed by analysing the Google patents over the last year, see link below) wherein the content publishers/web masters will define the way in which Google interacts with their content. Content publishers can also allow google to access the password protected pages and selectively allow the information displayed as search results such as inventory listings etc. On the search side, the user will be allowed to view the results in a tailored manner similar to as it is with real estate results as discussed above.

Infact the rife between Google and EBay already started where Google tried to probe EBay's resilience by hosting a Google checkout party at EBay live customer event in Boston for eBay sellers who are angry that eBay has forbidden merchants from offering Google Checkout as an online payment option. Google's party -- complete with free massage, drinks and food -- was to be just a short, free bus ride (provided by Google) from the eBay Live event. Google's Checkout Freedom Party was supposed to introduce a new online payment system called Checkout to eBay users. Google's Checkout is banned on eBay because the auction giant sees it as a competitor to its own PayPal payment system. When news of the Google party surfaced, eBay cancelled its advertising on Google. Google then backed down and cancelled the party. About a week later, eBay resumed Google advertising. So much more to come on this front.....

References:
- Google party at EBay event : http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9728551-7.html
- http://gilbane.com/search_blog/2007/05/will_steve_arnold_scare_it_int.html