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You’ve got to pay attention to the race between Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB). Whilst one started out as a search engine and the other as a social medium, they both seem bent on ruling the world. On March 4th, we featured an article about Facebook’s efforts to develop drones for, as they would have us believe, making the internet accessible to everyone on the planet. Now, Google has stepped it up in a way that might be embarrassing to FB.
In that March 4th story we noted that:
“Although not official yet, TechCrunch released what appears to be a reliable report that Facebook is in talks with Titan Aerospace, hoping to bring that company into Czar Zuckerberg’s collection. I’m going to give you the scoop as simply as I can.
- Acquisition price = $60 million
- Acquisition purpose = Connect the remaining 5 billion people in the world to the internet without the infrastructure that has been required heretofore.
- Acquisition plan = Build and launch 11,000 unmanned aerial drones that will, in effect, replace towers and satellites to spread the use of the internet.
The drones are already available. With a 160-foot wingspan and embedded solar panels, the vehicles are able to fly at 65,000 feet, well above regulated airspace, but still suborbital. A built-in battery provides the power to launch, but, once at altitude, the drones can remain in the tropopause (where the winds are perpetually calm and there is nothing to block the sun) for five years using only sunlight as their source of power. They don’t just fall out of the sky after five years. They are retrievable. In fact, they are retrievable at any time, should they encounter problems. Once the problem is fixed or they get their five-year refurbishment, they can be relaunched.”
Surprise! The Facebook deal fell through. Google is now the proud owner of Titan Aerospace. Details relative to the deal have not been disclosed, but you can bet your sweet bippy that it cost Google more than the $60 million that Facebook had placed on the table.
Actual commercial operations are expected to commence in 2015 as Google prepares to fly its drones 12 miles above the surface of the Earth. Facebook drones. Amazon drones. Google drones. Where is all of this headed? What is the race really all about? I humbly submit that it is about information. Not spreading it, but accumulating it . . . about every person on the planet.
So what does that have to do with any of the three companies stocks? I suggest that it has much to do. As these companies scramble to access more and more information using everything from cookies to flying drones, their value should increase significantly in just about every area where information is a commodity, which is, in fact, everywhere.
I would ask this question: Will these drones be used strictly for the advertised purpose or will they be used by governments to monitor what less maneuverable satellites cannot? Will they really be used for us or will they be used against us? Will they be commandeered for military use? I have suspicions, but I have no answers. This much I know: there seems to be a driving demand to get these drones in place. There has to be financial incentive for driving technology at this pace. That means that there is something in it for these companies that will sustain them and their profitability. That is a scenario for considering an investment.
Google share price closed up today 0.74% at 536.44. Facebook share price was up 0.34% at 59.09. Amazon share price finished up 0.05% at 316.08.
