Not to doubt the honesty of Google here, but independently from the altruistic considerations, this is very smart market research outsourcing.
Lots of people from different backgrounds will be eagerly giving the company ideas about things that (1) people want and (2) are massively scalable. Most will not be directly monetizable, but one or two gems could make this experiment pay off in very pragmatic, egotistical terms.
Not a criticism at all. It only brings hope when benevolence and business go by the hand.
The profit margin on the product may be very low, yet the developing world (which this effort seems to be targeting primarily) is a huge market, and the investment will pay off greatly. Plus, the product will be for a good cause. Win-win situation.
Secondly, Google is harvesting the wisdom of the crowds with this call. No doubt there will be several great gems from the fringes. I am looking forward to see the top 100 list. I am also confused a little. Google states that the Google employees will go over all the submissions and choose the top 100 list. Wouldn't that be incredibly tedious? I wonder what tools they will use to speed things up. I think this would make a great job to submit to the Mechanical Turk.
In a related effort, from the networking/systems perspective, Eric Brewer of Inktomi fame has been working on investigating the design and deployment of new technologies for emerging regions. http://tier.cs.berkeley.edu/wiki/Home
Below is wikipedia entry for Eric:
Eric A. Brewer is a former billionaire and main inventor of a wireless networking scheme called WiLDNet which promises to bring low-cost connectivity to rural areas of the developing world. He also was made a tenured professor at UC Berkeley at the age of only 32. In 1996, Brewer co-founded Inktomi Corporation.
Google is committing $10 million to implement these projects, so by just donating your idea you can truly help a lot of people. A big return for a small work. To me this is a great deal. I will be brainstorming with my friends in the next couple of weeks, and will try to make 5 high quality submissions.
It seems that helping people is more and more in the air.
I have been working on such idea before google sent this appeal.
I am wondering how they will handle the finalist. Do they give you 10 millions and let's say 50% of the shares or do you become somehow a google employee trading your best idea for a jumpstart in the startup area without guarantees of what you will own?
Lots of people from different backgrounds will be eagerly giving the company ideas about things that (1) people want and (2) are massively scalable. Most will not be directly monetizable, but one or two gems could make this experiment pay off in very pragmatic, egotistical terms.
Not a criticism at all. It only brings hope when benevolence and business go by the hand.