First, and most obvious, would be that a free calendar system would be a new source of revenue for Google's Adwords program - imagine how targeted and relevant said ads would be if they were matched to your calendar content, much like they are matched to email content now via Gmail.

Taking a page from Yahoo!'s calendar program it is not that difficult to imagine a Gcalendar.

Yahoo! offers a convenient single sign-in where you can not only access your calendar but also your free Yahoo! email account, as well as your stored addresses and even a handy notepad to keep track of things you might want to remember (and if you are like me - a notepad is required as my short term memory isn't always the best).

So, if Google were to bundle products like Yahoo! has done, imagine the ad serving potential. Also consider that, as a convenience to you, they would pre-populate important dates, like July 4th for American users (July 1st for Canadians) Christmas, New Years and so on. Then they serve ads relevant to that important date. For example, on July 4th, or just before it, you get ads on what grocery specials there are in your area, where to buy your liquor cheap (if you are so inclined) even hotels near the best spots to see fireworks.

The options are virtually endless. And there is a much better chance that the click on the ad will be a good converting ad, when compared to other programs like Adsense.

Of course, to entice people to switch, Google will have to do something different. The co-worker who put me on to this story suggested the ability to have multiple calendars. So you could have a "work" calendar, a "personal" calendar, heck, even a calendar with your favorite TV shows, or perhaps another one for other special social events, such as church events and gatherings, sporting events you are interested in attending and so on.

These calendars could be shared with others and synced with your desktop based application, or your portable hardware (such as a PDA or cell phone). Remember Google's mission is to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." Your calendar is another useful yet generally in-accessible source of information, unless you have a PDA that you regularly sync, or carry around a paper-based day planner.

Is a Google based calendar a useful application? Definitely. Will Google make money on it? Of course. If they follow their previous paths of offering the application for free and serving Adwords on it they will.

Like anything though, it will take sometime before it becomes mainstream. Also, it will likely spend months, if not years, in Google Beta. But those things aside, it's not hard to imagine a day when you can easily and effectively have your Gcalendar updated and synced with your PDA (or other portable device), workstation and home computer without really having to do much.

Rob Sullivan
Production Manager
Enquiro.com


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