Facebook Google News 2014: Google confirmed on Monday that it had acquired Titan Aerospace, which develops jet-sized drones that are intended to fly nonstop for years. According to The Wall Street Journal, Google didn't disclose the purchase price for New Mexico-based Titan Aerospace. Google said the technology could be used to gather images and offer online access to far-flung areas.
Facebook was reportedly interested in procuring Titan earlier this year, but ended up buying U.K. based drone start-up Ascenta, one that has been working on solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles, for $ 20 million. According to a person familiar with the matter, based on The Wall Street Journal report, Google offered to top any Facebook offer.
Joe Fahmy of Zor Capital said, "The main reason [for the acquisition] is to provide Internet access to places that have limited access, another reason is to help with Google Maps and Google Earth for satellite images. But what I admire is whether they use this a day, or ten years from now or never, Google is trying to stay ahead of the competition with Facebook."
"The drone makers are on the leading edge of a promising but largely unproven technology to beam Internet access to parts of the world not served by telephone wires or cellphone towers. However, industry observers say there are still technical challenges to overcome. Even Amazon.com Inc which is developing less sophisticated aerial vehicles for short-hop deliveries, says its drones remain four or five years in the future before regular use," reported by The Wall Street Journal.
"Titan and Ascenta build high-altitude drones, massive glider-like aircraft that fly near the edge of the earth's atmosphere, and can stay airborne for days, weeks, months or maybe even years, fuelled by renewable energy sources like solar power. For Facebook, the draw is to use drones to beam out wireless web access as part of its connectivity lab project. Google's desire is to use drones in conjunction with Project Loon, an initiative that's focusing on using large helium balloons to bring Internet access to remote parts of the world. In the eyes of Zuckerberg, Brin and Page, the slow-moving and monopsonistic mobile carriers will not be the ones bringing access to these poorer regions of the world. Facebook and Google know where their biggest growth areas are, and they will be aggressive in gaining the upper hand to reach these users," stated in Yahoo Finance.
"Google is all about gathering information, same thing with Facebook," Fahmy says. "You think, 'what does this have to do with their core advertising business,' but it's just another source of information," Fahmy observes, ostensibly for them to provide users with more relevant advertising, whether delivered to you via mobile, geo-located for relevancy, or even brought to you in a virtual world.
Information is sovereign for companies that are looking for innovative ways to connect marketers with people, Fahmy added.
