Google 411 Shaking Up 411 Industry

Did you know the directory assistance industry in the United States is worth $8 billion? That’s surprising news to me, and could explain a lot of why Google entered it earlier this week with 800-GOOG-411. There’s a lot about this industry, one most people probably overlooked, in Olga Kharif’s BusinessWeek article, including this:
That’s likely to be music to the ears of the millions of 411 users who, according to consultancy the Pierz Group, pay an average of $1.28 a pop for assistance over a regular phone and a whopping $1.57 for each such call via a cell phone.

Other are trying free 411, subsidizing it with advertisements at the beginning and end of each call. I don’t know what’s worse, relatively overpriced 411 fees, or audio ads while you are trying to find an important number (and wasting your minutes), but I suspect most consumers would take […]

Original post by Nathan Weinberg