Facebook Goes After Google and Google Pursues Lotus Notes

Facebook may seem like the aggressor today but going after a competitor’s customer base is nothing new. It’s part of the game.

Just take a look at what Google is doing to attract new subscribers. It’s aggressively pursuing Lotus Notes customers by offering enhancements that include integration with GMail.

That’s called aggressive marketing. It is not much different than Facebook going after Google’s customer base. It’s just a different approach based on Facebook’s efforts to turn young consumers to a simple messaging platform that appeals to a demographically different audience.

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg insists Facebook Messages is not an “email killer.” But is there any doubt that GMail is in his sights? No.

The Facebook messaging platform includes email but it also has features such as SMS and Chat. Google has those features, too.

Further, The Microsoft Office integration allows people to download documents from within the Facebook Message platform. That alone is a sign of how Facebook is aligning. It’s teaming with Microsoft, Google’s long time rival.

Google is different. Google Apps is driving for more subscribers by offering enhancements that makes it easier for Lotus Notes customers to switch to Google Apps.

According to the Google Enerprise blog:

• Support for OAuth, so you don’t need to store administrator and user passwords to migrate mail, calendar and contacts.
• User provisioning can be run as a separate module prior to user migration, so you can verify users have been provisioned as you like before migrating data.
• Enhanced logging capabilities so you can see what migration actions were taken.
• Support for assigning group owners from migrated Domino Directory groups.
• Improved support for migrated calendar events and push synchronization for BlackBerry® devices.
• Simpler migration tool interface.

Facebook has its own markets to conquer. That means it has to battle with Googe. For Google’s part, the battle is now more tactical. It’s about adding enhancements to shift the mind of the business user to the Google Apps platform. That means pursuing Lotus Notes.

What this all tells us? Going after your competitor is just part of the game.

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