A report out by Gartner Research explains why carriers need to partner with Google, not compete against the search engine giant.
"Dataquest Insight: How Google May Influence the Future Direction of Telecom" predicts Google will get "unfettered" Internet access so telecom players should partner up instead of trying to duke it out in court or federal agency hearings (Here here! But then, what would Rick Whitt do for a living?)
Gartner says Google has a "well executed" strategy to insure that access control is removed from carriers. Since The Google wants to be the "source of information" and "the hub and spoke of everything," everything from ad revenue, to geo-location, to location-aware applications will end up working through Google in some fashion.
With a new Net Neutrality-friendly administration rolling into Washington (Not to mention Google CEO Eric Schmidt sitting at the right hand of Obama these days), battling Google in future FCC hearings and spending a lot of lobbying money might be counter-productive at best. Gartner believes carriers would be better served by working with Google as the path of least (expensive) resistance.
