Lisa Mancini was ecstatic when she was selected to be one of the beta test customers of recently launched Google Shopping Express. She rushed to place her first order: a bookshelf and some groceries, from Target. And promptly indeed a Google delivery van arrived by her door, and three men in crisp Google uniforms hauled in the boxes. And before she asked herself “Why three?” one of them offered to assemble the bookshelf. “Free, madam. It’s included” he smiled. Stunned, she nodded. Nice…
The second man winked and said: “You are thinking of veal ossobuco with gremolata and vegetable stew? and key lime cake, aren’t you? Is it for tonight? Shall I cook it for you?” – “Yes… I did…How do you know???” – “Elementary! Everything at Google is run by algorithm. It analyzed your grocery list against a recipe database and these came as virtually the only explanation. Frankly, it wasn’t hard: lemon zest, garlic and parsley, with veal shank – what else could it be?” he smiled “Plus, your name sounds Italian. And maybe you searched for an ossobuco recipe, or asked your friends on Google Plus, or over gmail, or talked about it on your Android phone. But don’t worry, we, humans, don’t read your emails. However, algorithms combine all available signals”. He donned a white apron and proceeded to the kitchen. She followed.
When the dude took the veggies Lisa noticed that they were packed in plastic bags with four-color “Google Farm” logo. She hasn’t seen it before. “Google Farm? What’s that?” – “Google doesn’t trust third-party suppliers. We grow our own organic vegetables.”
The man was right. Whatever Google needs, it makes it in house. It started with own file system, debugging tools and noSQL databases. Then, email, browser and two operating systems: Andorid and Chrome OS. Next came the hardware: servers, routers, notebooks, set-top boxes, Motorola cell phones, smart goggles and self-driving cars. When Google had ventured into delivery services it began deploying its own mailboxes and building its own FedEx-like fleet, Google Express. So, it is only natural that for this operation Google will have to start manufacturing goods it delivers, and growing them, too, if so needs to be. This explains reports of Google converting a vacant lot on its campus into a vegetable garden, and acquiring a pig farm in Spermoville, Kentucky. Besides, with the shutdown of services like Google Reader and Picasa, the engineers who worked there need new projects. And who knows, maybe it is all parts of the CEO Larry Page’s master plan, who publicly mentioned that he envisions that one day his company would employ one million people.
Meanwhile in Russia, Yandex, the local search king, joined the same-day-delivery race by launching same _hour_ delivery! You place an order on Yandex Market, and a courier knocks on your door in as little as 10 min. How come? As with Google, the answer is algorithms! However, Yandex went farther – its new Tensor.Da algorithm analyzes your behavior and predicts when you are ready to place the order. Yandex then dispatches a courier, usually a striving student who travels by subway and hauls the goods in a bag – traffic in Moscow is so bad that Yandex cannot afford Google’s luxury of delivering by truck. The currier arrives in advance and sits on stairwell steps, awaiting the order. As soon as the client places the order, the courier receives a text message and rings the doorbell.
Further still, the sources indicate that Yandex is beta-testing preemptive delivery, when the goods are delivered _before_ you place the order. Developed in Yandex’s secretive Palo Alto lab, the system notices that you searched for, say, Graco Zoey UrbanLite Stroller and then clicked through to Ozon online store, proceeded to check-out but did not complete the purchase. For the next 2 weeks, wherever you go online, you will be besieged by banner ads featuring the stroller. Utilizing sophisticated statistical models Yandex knows when your frustration boils over. When the stroller finally arrives you feel so relieved that you ready to pay twice the market price only to stop the barrage of ads. Even if you are only five-months pregnant and won’t need the stroller for the next half-year. (The latter signal is extracted by analyzing your searches on Yandex and pharmacy purchases.)
