Google Offers Money For Gadgets

[Charles]

Google has announced the launch of Google Gadget Ventures, a new pilot program that will help fund third-party gadget development and gadget-related businesses.

Google will offer two types of funding: $5,000 grants for gadget developers who want to improve an existing gadget, and $100,000 seed investments for new gadget-related businesses. Applications will be restricted initially to gadget developers who have more than 250,000 pageviews per week on their gadget.

Google aims to “help create an ecosystem where developers can spend more time doing what they love — building great gadgets”. In other words Google wants more gadgets for iGoogle and Google Gadgets and what better way to encourage development than to offer money to gadget builders. It probably goes without saying that this is a smart move by Google; Google’s gadget specific offerings are all smart products but still lag in gadget choice compared to competitors such as Yahoo Widgets, a number of Web OS and Widget specific startups and even OSX.

more at TechCrunch.

[Jackie]

This, I think, is Google's way of aggressive innovations. We have to accept it that tech competition is getting stiffer each day. Of course, as soon as techies worldwide come to know this awesome offer, they would gladly take the chance. Imagine being connected with a giant search engine as Google, you would be seeing a brighter future.