Google is likely to announce a facelift to its Google Finance service soon, according to informed sources. The upgrade could come as soon as Monday, though as we all know product upgrades can get pushed out due to unforeseen reasons.
Google Finance debuted to much fanfare back in March 2006, but the service hasn’t made much headway against Yahoo’s still dominant Finance portal. We were not very impessed by Google Finance when it launched. Despite making some progress, the service lags Yahoo’s offering.
It has failed to crack the top twenty financial destinations, as calculated by both Comscore and Nielsen Net Ratings. Its contribution to the overall Google traffic is minuscule, as data from HitWise reveals. Interestingly the shuttering Google Answers and Google Finance are still in the same ballpark, which makes us feel that the next upgrade is critical.
Yahoo Finance, despite recent neglect, is still a superior user experience. If Yahoo added blog and other related content to its curated content and stock market data, it would do well to hold onto its position as world’s premier finance destination. Many Yahoo Finance visitors use its portfolio features, and thus are reticent to switch away from Yahoo.
That alone makes Google’s task harder. Like you, we are going to be waiting and watching for this upgrade.
I was never a big fan of Google Finance either. They flaunted their interactive Flash charts and blog integration, but to no avail. Yahoo is far superior and simplistic. Google needs to focus on the core offering – market data and information.
Google is known for having wacky, crazy, out-of-the-box marketing tactics. Gmail offered a ridiculous amount of storage that Yahoo and MSN had to match (on some scale).
So… what if Google offered something spectacular that nearly everyone currently pays for? I think that FREE, real-time stock quotes may be the answer… or something similar. An exceptional offering like this would get people talking and spread the word. Rather than spend money on marketing, let the product sell itself, ala Purple Cow. The PR and buzz alone would generate consider traffic and exposure.
Cheers,
Aidan
Aidan’s idea for free real-time quotes is SPECTACULAR.
i’d just like them to include stocks listed outside the US… is that really too much to ask?
Yahoo does track blog data, though it is edited through submissions to seekingalpha.com.
Yahoo already does ALL OF THIS: free real-time stock quotes AND blog data… I don’t see how Google can improve on this.
I do like the news feature on the stock chart that pegs news to fluctations in the stock price.
I prefer Google Finance over Yahoo finance when it comes to getting a quick look at my positions. Yahoo finance is my second stop because of the content.
Streaming quotes are currently free on Yahoo right now but are delayed at least 17 minutes.
Real-time streaming quotes is a premium service that costs $10.95/month (billed annually).
If Google wants to offer a compelling Finance portal, free real-time sreaming quotes, is a good place to start. I has used Yahoo Finance since the mid-90’s and it is still the best portal. However, I would seriously consider switching if free real-time quotes were offered.
Giving away a premium service for free was probably a major contributor to Gmail gaining early traction (beyond cool UI). They handed out huge storage and POP access, the two key features of Yahoo! Mail Plus. They also had address book scraping and other stuff to make switching easier.
If Google offers real-time streaming quotes + auto-import of Yahoo! portfolios, then that comprises a nice advance…
Although I like the google finance, I have to say that it would take A LOT for me to move from Yahoo Finance. The new charts as well as the message boards (yes I like the new format) is a prefect combo for me.
Free real time quotes and charts ARE available in MSN Money (http://money.msn.com). You need to sign in since they track usage, but that’s the case for the portfolio as well, so it’s not an added burden.
It’s not just the free real time quotes. It’s the free streaming real time quotes that is in demanding.
News, streaming quote, transaction fee are the three major cost associated with stock trading. Google could follow the InteractiveBroker’s model, providing free streamng news, real time quotes, and free brokerage service would be even better. This would push all old-style brokerage out of business. Who knows what kind of new business opportunity may be born then.
I actually prefer Yahoo Finance to Google Finance. I find that it has more resources and is much easier to use.
I also prefer and use Yahoo Finance, here’s why:
http://blog.simplewind.com/archives/2-Yahoo-Finance-vs.-Google-Finance.html
Google finance has undergone many chages from the beginning and its very improved now.
Now I think Google finance has improved a lot over the past.