It’s amazing how Google’s product announcements can instantaneously shake up the landscape of a market. When Google announced Google Maps Navigation at the end of October, the share prices of Garmin and TomTom crashed by 16% and 21% respectively. And since then they’ve only gotten worse.
Just yesterday, Google did it again by announcing high-level details of a new property service to be integrated into Google Maps. This would allow estate agents and private individuals to list properties for free, while companies like Rightmove continue to charge agents hundreds of pounds a month in fees. Furthermore, most of these services are closed to private home sellers. Needless to say, Rightmove’s share price tumbled 10% yesterday.
So what’s Google’s next target? It’s probably an industry you don’t want to be in.