“Google Inc has bought Zagat, the popular restaurant recommendations and ratings authority, to expand its local content in the niche marketplace that includes Yelp and Yahoo Inc.,” Edwin Chan reports for Reuters.
“Google said the 32-year-old Zagat, which polls consumers and compiles reviews on restaurants around the world, will become a cornerstone of its “local offering” and work in tandem with its mapping services and core search engine,” Chan reports. “Zagat will go up against competing services popular with users on the Internet, including Yelp.”
Read more in the full article here.
John Kell reports for The Wall Street Journal, “The acquisition highlights how the mobile market continues to attract attention from technology vendors and consumers. Zagat has a ‘Zagat To Go’ app that costs $9.99 and can be used on Apple Inc.’s iPhone or iPod Touch, as well as app options for the Android, BlackBerry and other smartphones. Google declined to discuss the terms of the deal.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]
Sounds like giving restaurant reviews to people will not be as big a priority for Zagat as it used to be.
Now tracking those people will be more important.
Did Quality just leave the building? 😉
And I liked Zagat…
Well, there goes another great service.
Soon to be exploited to the point of uselessness.
My feelings exactly. Let’s hope they don’t buy Urban Spoon, too.
Great service? Pfft. The Yelp app is free. I don’t even own a restaurant, yet my Yelp listing generates the bulk of my inquiries.
Damn I hate Google.
Yeah! F*ck Google! They almost make Microsoft look attractive.
I used to rely on Zagat to find quality restaurants, back before Yelp exploded. Zagat lost its prestige and value when it started taking reviews for fast food chains such as McDonald’s and Panera. And Yelp is far better anyways.
Google puts the suck into everything. Not quite yet the Ballmer level of suck but definitely getting there.
Yes, Google is spending their cash – what in hopes people use this on their Apple devices. I guess they need to earn money some how? Can’t keep giving away a free OS which is based on stolen code.
maybe I’m paranoid, but this seems to me like a preemptive move to block an attempt by apple to create an independent, socially integrated map application. I don’t see what google woul do with it other than scew it up, but it seems like something that woulve been a good fit for apple.
Of course now, Google can add a page rank factor tied to a resturant review. Or, charge more for PPC if you aren’t on Zagat.
Those Googlers will find a way to profit from anything at the expense of the consumer. Oh no wait, that was Enron. Hmmm.