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I know that there are a small but growing number of Kiwis who have forsaken handing over their Telecom stipend every month in preference for using one of the mobile plans with a large number of "free" minutes.

If wireless broadband coverage increases to the extent that the likes of Woosh and others wish, it's quite likely that an increasing number of people may also choose to free themselves from the local loop.

Well that's the theory -- but how much of this is wishful thinking and how much is reality?

I suspect the answer probably depends very much on what the government decides to do in respect to local loop unbundling.

If they follow the Commerce Commission's recommendations and leave the loop in Telecom's hands then yes, we will see a continued growth in wireless services -- including VOIP services through broadband internet links.

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If however, they take the sensible option and free up the local loop to all-comers then I think we'll see wireless data and VOIP services grow at a much lower rate.

Paying For Listings?
As Yahoo attempts to launch new initiatives designed to dent Google's crown as search engine king, it has announced that it will be charging for "deep indexing" of commercial websites.

Yahoo has previously charged for a priority listing service which simply meant that paid submissions would be examined ahead of unpaid ones but I have a feeling that this new system may well backfire on them.

Google's co-founder, Larry Page also doubts the sensibility of Yahoo's approach, describing it as "a pretty bad thing to do."

I know that when I'm searching for information on the Web, I sometimes find that data buried deeply in the bowels of a commercial website. Knowing that there's now less chance of finding those little gems when using Yahoo (because the site may not have paid a fee) means Google remains my preferred search engine choice.

To be quite frank, Yahoo's greed is showing.

I think Yahoo has to decide whether it wants to have the *best* search engine or whether it simply wants to milk the maximum amount of revenue it can out of site-owners.

Unfortunately they don't seem to have twigged to the secret behind Google's success -- giving the websurfer the very best deal.

Google's approach is far smarter than Yahoo's. With Yahoo, you're paying to have the bulk of your content listed but that payment won't affect your ranking. With Google, you're paying to have your site showcased in the sponsored links area and the more you pay the higher ranked your sponsored link will be.

Google's method is better for web-users and better for site owners.

And let's face it -- who would bother paying for a listing on Yahoo when Google is more popular and will index the same stuff for free?

Hell, with the money you'd have to spend to get the bulk of your commercial website listed on Yahoo you could pay an expert to help you get a higher ranking on Google (gloat, gloat and gloat :-)

Aardvark Magazine
The first part of the "New Aardvark" is now online but still undergoing some updates so bear with me while the loose ends are tidied up.

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You can access the new forums over at aardvarkforums.co.nz

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