Google Puts on Suit, Tie, Gets to Work with Finance
|
Written By Reprise Media | March 21, 2006 | Share This
|
|
We’d heard the rumors making the rounds for awhile about Google Finance, and today the service launches (in beta, natch) with a cannonball splash (according to their blog, the timing is to honor the vernal equinox - um). Big G has a lot of catching up to do - the AP story notes that Yahoo!’s market-leading finance page has been around for ten years. While longtime Yahoo! Finance and MSN Money users may not bolt en masse (excepting the hardcore Google enthusiasts thereamong), Google’s site does offer a few wrinkles that help set it apart.
First off, casual market watchers don’t need to know the exact stock ticker symbol of a company in order to look it up, as entering the company name will do - and looking up companies based on the type of business they’re in also works, up to a point; a search for “international travel” turned up a couple of travel companies, several companies with, we suppose, international reach (Washington Post, Gannett) and other non travel-related corporations whose names contain the word “international.” One feature we (and many others) like a lot is the interactive stock graph, which live-plots headline stories about the company so you can easily see what effect the news might have had on the stock - for instance, Washington Post’s value rose a couple of points after they announced the culling of 80 newsroom jobs.
The critics all agree on one thing: Google Finance is definitely…working. Search Engine Roundtable and Search Engine Watch generally approve. But all the build-up has left some corners of the ‘net with a ‘where’s the kaboom?’ feeling. Paul Kedrosky and others are calling the launch all sizzle and no steak. Some features - like company discussion boards (to be moderated by Google employees to curb spam) and links to relevant blog posts alongside old media news stories - have a few folks imagining problems down the line. Threadwatch wonders:
“What are the odds that it could lead to some angry mob justice bloggers getting sued by shareholders or mega corps who see their stock get punished from blog rumors?”
Just poking around, it looks like Google’s so far handling that particular question by linking only to fairly authoritative sources.
We think, for an “early release beta” product, that Google Finance is doing a pretty nice job so far - it’s certainly a more impressive launch than Google Page Creator, for example. If you want more Google Finance coverage than you can shake a stick at, try Charlene Li’s review or take a look at Loren Baker’s delightfully baseball-flavored entry.
Topics: Google |