THE GOOGLE INVESTOR: Facebook Has Microsoft As Ally To Take On Google (GOOG)

The Google Investor is a daily report from SAI. Sign up here to receive it by emailGOOG Sideways In Mixed Market Stocks are trading sideways as markets process reports on Greece reaching a debt deal. Shares of GOOG are all over the map as well. Investors continue to look for Android momentum in the smartphone and tablet markets worldwide; Motorola acquisition approval and integration; regaining ground in China; resurgence of Google TV and continued growth of YouTube; expansion of social network Google+; and progress in other newer initiatives (location-based services, mapping, gaming, daily deals, Google Wallet, Google Music, etc.). The stock trades at approximately 11.9x Enterprise Value / EBIT.Facebook Has Microsoft As Ally To Battle Google (eWeek)Microsoft is leveraging its minority stake in Facebook in many ways: the search engine bakes the social network’s “Like” button into its results, presents Facebook information on the results page and incorporates initiatives such as Docs.com. Combined, that gives Microsoft and Facebook a search engine, social network and cloud-productivity hub to battle Google’s assets in those areas. Granted, Bing trails Google in search-engine market share, and Docs.com is unlikely to run roughshod over Google Apps. However, Facebook won't have to fight Google entirely alone.Android OEMs Represent 25% Of The World's Mobile Browsing (Engadget) Nokia sits atop the world's market when it comes to mobile phone shipments and market share. But as it turns out, the Finnish manufacturer leads the way in terms of mobile web browsing, too. That's according to the latest report from StatCounter, which found that Nokia handsets account for about 40% of the world's mobile browsing, followed by Apple at around 29% and Samsung at 14%. Android OEMs as a whole account for a little under 25% of the world's mobile browsing.Google / Motorola Could Happen As Early As Next Week (Business Insider)Google's $12.5 billion deal to buy Motorola will be cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice as early as next week. European regulators have also set a deadline of next Monday to decide whether or not to sign off. The authorities are worried that Google might use Motorola's massive patent hoard to block other companies in the mobile space. Earlier today, Google tried to calm those fears by promising it would offer to license those patents before suing. Once the deal closes, the fun begins: seeing whether Google can actually turn Motorola's fading business around.Motorola Remembers Entry-Level Phones, Launching In U.K. (Pocket-lint) Motorola kicked off 2012 by announcing the arrival of both the Motorola Defy Mini and Motorola Motoluxe (Gingerbread) handsets. The latter of the two is landing in the U.K. this month. Motorola has been pushing the high-end in Android phones for a while, coaxing early-adopters with LTE marvels like the Droid Razr and the Droid 4, but the Motoluxe shows it hasn't forgotten the entry-level market. Solid and middle-of-the-road is usually the route for affordable devices.Interactive Marketing And How That Affects Google (Search Engine Watch)Forrester's Interactive Marketing Forecast for 2011-2016 predicts that 26% of all advertising spend will come from interactive marketing reaching a grand total of $77 billion by 2016, with $33 billion of that coming through search. Although the report states that search will lose some share of the pie from 55% today to 44% of all interactive spend in 2016, it also states that "Marketers refocus their search marketing strategies on 'getting found' by users through any medium — not just search engines." A mixed bag for Google.Google Chrome Finally Comes To Android (Various via Scoople)Big news came from Google this week as the company released the very first beta version of its Chrome web browser for Android. Like the mobile versions of Opera and Firefox for Android, browser tabs and favorites from the user's desktop version are synced to the mobile browser, providing a unified experience across platforms. Bookmarks can be ported across smartphones, tabs left open on the desktop can also be synched to the smartphone or tablet and the autocomplete suggestions can be shared.Google Picking Up Yahoo Search Share (Business Insider)For the second month in a row, Yahoo lost significant share of U.S. searches, according to ComScore, falling 0.4 points to 14.1%. Google seems to have picked up most of its losses, and is now at 66.2% while Bing has been on a slow but upward trend and stands at 15.2%. Although Bing powers Yahoo's search, Microsoft keeps all the money from search advertising on Bing, while Yahoo takes close to 90% of the ad money from searches on Yahoo. So this is bad news for Yahoo. Also, the deal between Microsoft and Yahoo has done nothing to stop Google.App Economy Creating Jobs Where There Were None Just A Few Years Ago (TechNet)A new report from TechNet suggests that the nascent app economy created by Apple (iOS), Google (Android) and Facebook has generated 466,000 jobs in the U.S. economy since 2007. Of those jobs, 311,000 have been generated and another 155,000 jobs have also been indirectly created from the app boom. The figures are estimates and are based on calculations on the existing market for app-related jobs. These figures, however, could represent “jobs not lost” rather than net jobs gained. In any event, good for the economy and good for New York and California which saw the highest percentage of those jobs.Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:THE MICROSOFT INVESTOR: Nokia Says There Is No "Plan B," It's All About Windows PhoneYahoo's Search Traffic Is TANKINGTHE APPLE INVESTOR: Apple's Mac Is The Only PC Brand Making Progress In Europe

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