Professor Voices » Google

Is Google+ the next Facebook?

Kira Jastive — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:22:15 +0000

Google+ has been gaining popularity as a new social network, but will it dethrone Facebook? According to Mina Tsay, assistant professor of communication at Boston University, the potential is there.

Tsay’s research focuses on the psychological and social effects of mass media, and the psychology of new and social media. Contact her at 617-353-3482; minatsay@bu.edu.

Google to buy Motorola Mobile

Jo Breiner — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 14:26:49 +0000

Google recently announced that it will acquire Motorola Mobile for $12.5 billion. Boston University School of Law lecturer James Bessen is the co-author of Patent Failure: How Judges, Bureaucrats, and Lawyers Put Innovators at Risk. He offers the following comment on the impact of the deal:

“This acquisition demonstrates that patents today are more about blocking innovation than encouraging it in information technology. Google is not buying these patents because it wants to use Motorola’s innovations. Google already has a highly innovative product and lots of innovation going on. Instead, it is buying Motorola’s patents to prevent Apple, Microsoft, etc., from keeping Google’s innovations off the market.”

Contact Bessen at 617-353-3110; jbessen@bu.edu

Apple overtakes Google as world’s most valuable brand

Jo Breiner — Mon, 09 May 2011 14:39:15 +0000

The following Boston University marketing professors, from the School of Management, are available to offer commentary and perspective on a new report stating the Apple is now the world’s most valuable brand with a value of $153 billion.

Susan Fournier is an associate professor of marketing and an expert in brands and brand strategies. She can be reached at 617-353-2773, fournism@bu.edu

Frederic Brunel is an associate professor of marketing and an expert in brand & product management and consumer behavior & decision-making processes. He can be reached at 617-353-4609, brunel@bu.edu

Microsoft v. Google in EU

Jo Breiner — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:10:21 +0000

Microsoft has filed a formal antitrust complaint with the European Union against Google. Keith Hylton, an antitrust-law expert and the Honorable Paul J. Liacos Profesor of Law of BU’s School of Law, offers the following comments:

“There’s no irony here, though Microsoft counsel Brad Smith is clearly referring to perception rather than reality. The reality is that both Google and Microsoft have been complaining to antitrust authorities about each other for quite a long time now. For example, Google’s complaints forced Microsoft to change its browser options in the EU two years ago.

“Antitrust has become a competitive weapon used by both companies. This is troubling because you never know quite what to make of the complaints. No doubt competition can be enhanced by forcing a dominant firm to make it easer for a rival to compete against it, but incentives to invest, which matter more in the long term, may be dulled.

“I remain of the opinion that the U.S. courts have it right in generally refusing to be dragged into complaints about duties to help rivals out. But the EC is happy to jump right into the middle of these fights, and so there will never be a lack of complaints. It’s a good time to be an antitrust lawyer in Europe.”

Contact Keith Hylton, 617-353-8959, knhylton@bu.edu

Yahoo may quit Japan

Jo Breiner — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:35:17 +0000

Boston University School of Management professor N. Venkat Venkatraman is available to offer expert analysis on a report that Yahoo is in talks to exit its Japanese joint venture. The move would make an estimated $8 billion available to Yahoo to fight Google and Facebook.

Contact N. Venkat Venkatraman, 617-353-7117, venkat@bu.edu, Twitter: @nvenkatraman