"There are no limits under this agreement as to what the company can do in travel search"
-- Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich.
On Friday, the U.S. Dept of Injustice “allowed”Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) to proceed with their $700 million purchase of ITA Software for its travel reservation capability. This event marks a key turning point for companies competing in the online reservations niche.
With Google’s vast resources, the competitive forces it unleashes in the online reservation sector should ultimately help decrease the cost of online reservations -- not increase them -- as is often the concern among those fond of wielding the antitrust laws.
Why is it that the entrenched incumbents including Expedia, Kayak, and Microsoft are the first to complain that the Google/ITA hookup will result in less competition, when, in fact, a Google entrance into the niche adds competition for them? Could it be they simply don’t want
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