Whitey - 10:51 pm on Oct 28, 2010 (gmt 0)

I wonder how much of a percentage of e-commerce sites depend upon a locational factor, and therefore how much of a disruption to distribution this might be?

And the faster these changes go , I can't help feeling that Google is really reacting to changes itself, rather ( you could argue ) than driving them. The convergence of geo based devices and content appears to be disbursing into social media , new apps and devices. If you're going to go local then there are other players who are stronger at it , such as the telco's and Yellow Page's directories - and they don't need to distribute through Google.

I also wonder if Google is spreading itself too thin by necessity.

Have a look at search results on your mobile and what do you see. Then compare it to your browser. Something's not quite right. To me the mobile application is made to locate and dial, whereas the browser experience doesn't follow the same experience.

I think Google needs to separate it's experiences for mobile, local and general distinctly. Just my 2 cents worth .