clear42: Making Money With Options

The Social Analyst is a column by Mashable Co-Editor Ben Parr, where he digs into social media trends and how they are affecting companies in the space.

When Google first announced Chrome OS, the questions surrounding it were numerous and the expectations were off the charts. Many wondered whether it was Google’s attempt to destroy Microsoft or if it would cannibalize Android instead.

It’s more than a year later, and Google has finally unveiled Chrome OS. While it’s not ready for prime time quite yet, the search giant has created a frenzy with the release of the CR-48 test notebook.

Still, the questions remain. Who is class='blippr-nobr'>Googleclass="blippr-nobr">Google targeting with Chrome OS? Why does it have both Android and Chrome OS? What are the company’s strategic goals?

While some critics have been attacking the flaws in the OS (forgetting it’s still incomplete) or predicting its demise, they’re not addressing the bigger picture. Chrome OS is just one piece of a master plan focused on shifting the world even further onto the web and satisfying the Google Revenue Equation.

Google’s Strategy With Chrome OS

When Chrome OS was first announced, I argued that the cloud-based operating system didn’t need to outsell class='blippr-nobr'>Windowsclass="blippr-nobr">Windows in order to achieve its goals.

Here’s what I said back then:

“As long as you’re on the web, Google wins. So we need to stop framing the Google-Microsoft battle in the context of ‘Chrome OS vs. Windows,’ because Google will not win a straight up battle. And guess what? That’s not Google’s goal. We need to frame it in the larger context of the Google Revenue Equation and how much time we spend on the web.”

The Google Revenue Equation, as I defined it back then, is “Revenue = Amount of Time on the Web.” For every minute we spend on the web and every page we visit, Google makes more money from its vast advertising network.

A year later, I still believe I hit the nail on the head. Chrome OS completely eliminates the desktop and challenges you to only use the web to get things done. And you know what? In almost every case, there’s a web app to replace a program in your Windows Start Menu or Mac OS X Dock. I’ve been able to do almost everything on my CR-48 that I can on my PC or Macbook Pro. And for those few things I haven’t been able to accomplish, there will probably be an app in the Chrome Web Store that will eventually do it.

Chrome OS is an attempt to condition us to rely on the web rather than the desktop for our needs. But that’s just one of many avenues Google has for accomplishing its goals.

Getting Us on the Web, One Product at a Time

Chrome OS. The Chrome Web Store. Cloud Connect. Message Continuity. Google TV. Google Buzzclass="blippr-nobr">Google Buzz. Androidclass="blippr-nobr">Android. All of these Google products are designed to get people to use the web for longer each day. They are helping push people to the online cloud, where Google dominates.

Android is Google’s vision of a web-centric mobile world. Google TV is its attempt to get you to browse the web on the living room screen. And Chrome OS is about weaning you off the desktop and getting you to use the browser exclusively.

For the vast majority of people, Chrome OS will satisfy their needs. Need to edit a photo? There’s an app for that. Want to play Solitaire? There’s an app for that too. Eventually there will be plenty of options for watching your favorite movies as well.

Because the OS is free and open-source though, we bet that devices running it will be a great deal cheaper than their Windows counterparts, making them attractive buys for price-conscious consumers. Even if Chrome OS flops in the market when it debuts in mid-2011, it’s still a relatively small investment for an experiment that has big potential for the company’s bottom line.

Google’s entire business model is based on getting you to stay on the class='blippr-nobr'>Internetclass="blippr-nobr">Internet. If it can find a way to get you online for a minute longer every day, it’s a no-brainer for the company. Chrome OS is just a component of a bigger strategy to keep us eternally connected to the web.

After Taking Big Sugar Money, Florida Ag. Commissioner Adam Putnam Seeks To Halt Soda Ban In Schools

Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL) has yet to take office in his new role as Florida Agriculture Commissioner, but he’s already making his Big Sugar contributors smile.

Throughout 2010, the State Board of Education has considered banning sugary drinks from Florida schools, including soft drinks, high-sugar juices, and chocolate milk. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Board member John Padget “has been pressing his colleagues for a year to cut out most beverages besides water, pure juice and white, low-fat milk.” Justifying such a move, Padget writes in a Key West Citizen op-ed, is the fact that “over one-third of America’s children are either overweight or obese,” leaving them “often less ready to learn in the classroom.”

A few weeks before the issue was to be considered, the state’s newly-elected Agriculture Commissioner, Adam Putnam, wrote a letter demanding that the Board of Education halt such a move. Putnam criticized the Board for choosing “to focus only on the nutrition content in beverages served in Florida schools,” rather than taking a more holistic approach:

One such area that I look forward to tackling is ensuring that Florida’s students have better nutrition options to reduce obesity and related long-term health risks. This is a topic your Board has discussed recently for possible policy recommendations. However, instead of looking at the entire nutrition intake of students, you have chosen to focus only on the nutrition content in beverages served in Florida schools. It is my belief that any nutrition improvement plan needs to be certain that students are receiving the best possible nutrition package, in concert with total wellness initiatives, to allow them to reach their optimum achievement potential.

First steps would be to take a comprehensive look at current school foodservice offerings, rather than making individual product recommendations that do not address the broader health picture. This comprehensive approach will need time to develop and I would appreciate your Board considering delaying any plans to address just a single component of the nutrition factors and instead allow time for a complete approach to building a healthier generation of Florida students.

As a result, “the Board of Education decided to put off any further discussion of the issue,” Deborah Higgins of the Board of Education’s communications department told ThinkProgress, “until the agriculture commissioner-elect Adam Putnam was sworn in.”

However, campaign finance records show that Putnam is less than an impartial figure in the matter. A ThinkProgress investigation has found that the incoming Agriculture Commissioner has been the benefactor of a significant amount of money from both the sugar and dairy lobby during the campaign – both of whom have a strong financial interest in keeping sugary drinks in schools. Despite Florida’s $500 contribution limit for both individuals and PACs, Putnam received at least $61,000 in campaign funds from sugar and dairy interests, including maxed-out contributions from Coca Cola’s lobbyist in Tallahassee Brian Ballard and a slew of maxed out contributions from the Sugar Barons of South Florida, the Fanjul family.

Following his victory on November 2, Putnam also made a wealthy sugar magnate one of his first appointments. Tracy Duda Chapman, Vice President and General Counsel for the corporate megafarm A. Duda & Sons, Inc., was appointed by Putnam as co-chair of his four-member transition team. Chapman is not just heavily invested in the sugar industry herself. She also serves on the leadership of the Florida Land Council trade association alongside the senior vice president of the US Sugar Corporation, Robert Coker, who also maxed out to Putnam.

There is little doubt that sugarmakers take comfort with Chapman sitting at Putnam’s right hand. Now that Putnam has moved to block a ban of sugary beverages in schools, that faith has been vindicated. In an instance of life imitating art, Florida sugarmakers are proving true the classic Simpsons quote, “In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power.”

Padget, who has spearheaded this issue for over a year, remains cautiously optimistic. “I think we could have 4 votes for this issue,” Padget told ThinkProgress by phone, which would constitute a majority of the seven-member Board. “Still,” he said, “there is a lot of work to be done. I look forward to Commissioner-elect Putnam’s contributions to this effort.”

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Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Making Money With Options

Google’s Strategy With Chrome OS

Getting Us on the Web, One Product at a Time

After Taking Big Sugar Money, Florida Ag. Commissioner Adam Putnam Seeks To Halt Soda Ban In Schools

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