We've been exploring Google's role in the domain industry and have used the analogy of a poker game to gain further insight into how to beat Google at the informational game. The poker game consisting of parking companies and Google continues to unfold....

Now let's explore the extreme scenario where Google abuses their position and manage to win every hand that they play. It wouldn't be long before players started deserting the game to go elsewhere. The first weakness of "perfect information" is that the person with perfect information can't be seen to be abusing your position.

This means that when negotiating with Google the single most important item of leverage that needs to be gained is the item that allows a parking company to expose the abuse of "perfect information". A number of the parking companies have managed to negotiate audit rights into their agreements but strangely haven't acted upon those rights. My impression is that there is a fear that if they do activate the right then it will lead to a more difficult time in the next round of negotiations with Google.

One of the nice things about a game of poker is that no matter how much you know what the other guy has you don't know what will come out in the flop, turn and river. These community cards are like new technologies, business processes and ideas that periodically bubble to the surface and make a losing hand suddenly the winning hand a the table.

Once again, here's the challenge for Google. If you squeeze the parking companies too hard then they will bolt for another poker game. I think that Princess Leia in the movie Star Wars summarised it best when she said to Darth Vader and the Grand Moff Tarkin, "The more you squeeze the more star systems will slip from your grasp."

Google needs to keep the parking companies interested enough to keep on playing the game. The problem with keeping them interested enough is that you can potentially be funding a future competitor because no one likes playing a game where the other guy is cheating.....no matter how often they've been allowed to win. It's just not very fun any more.

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