Indoor mapping, new ads
Google has launched a significant addition to its Google Maps for Android, which would now enable indoor maps of select malls, airports and transit stations. [1]
This presents a significant advertising opportunity, especially since brands and retailers would directly featured in an indoor map.
Google leads in the search market with competitors such as Yahoo and Microsoft.
See our full analysis for Google’s stock
High Android Penetration Would be the Biggest Advantage
As of November 2011, more than 200 million Android devices have been activated with more than 550,000 new devices being activated daily. [2] This provides an immense opportunity for the company to scale-up its indoor maps through partnerships with malls and airports worldwide.
Apart from the obvious advantage to users who would now find it easy to navigate through buildings, we also expect the indoor map feature to provide a significant advertising opportunity. Retailer locations in malls and airports would now show up on the map, and they should be interested in highlighting any new deals and promotions on the map users as soon as users enter the building.
We currently have a price estimate near $628 for Google's stock, which is around 8% above the current market price.
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Notes:
- Google Blog: A new frontier for Google Maps: mapping the indoors [↩]
- CNet: Google: 200 million Android devices now active worldwide [↩]
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