It seems that the once innocent and well-meant start-up that is now known as Google is once again chomping its way through the internet is making waves as it pushes into new arenas. The Mountain-View, California-based search engine titan Google acquired the company that made it easy for travelers to compare airfares, ITA Software Inc., for $700 million price tag, which could give it a leading edge in the market for online travel search results.
About six months back, Google disclosed its intention to buy the company ITA Software Inc., which has caused a ripple of concern through the industry as online travel agents (OTAs) fight back in the ever intensifying war of Google versus the internet.
Since then, the gigantic players in online travel sphere have pulled lines, for and against the deal, and regulators have sought more time and information for an anti-trust investigation, which continues.
Google’s acquisition of ITA Software risks, in time, diminishing rivalry in the U.S. travel industry, a law professor at Columbia University said.
“In the longer term … the danger is that this deal could empower Google such an advantage that travel search becomes like other forms of search, dominated by one engine, which could eventually stifle innovation,” The New York Times quoted professor Tim Wu as saying Tuesday.
This acquisition has caused a wave of concern throughout the travel industry, and OTAs are fighting back, fearful that travel search would fall into the hands of monolithic search engine giant’s control, stifling competition.
The acquisition, if sanctioned, would enable Google, the dominant search engine , digest ITA, which was established in the 1990s by computer scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has become the prominent provider of flight data to airlines, travel agents, global distribution systems, flight comparison sites and technology companies.
Source:-http://news.ebrandz.com/google/2010/3789-google-gobbles-travel-software-to-fatten-its-travel-search-portal-.html
