Wolfram Alpha: Now on iGoogle, Too
Wolfram Alpha has Add-ons for their search. The add-ons come in many different flavors, from a FireFox addon to a Windows start bar search to an iGoogle gadget. An iGoogle Gadget? Aren’t Wolfram and Google enemies?
Its pretty cool that there seems to be comfortable interaction between Google and Wolfram Alpha.
This is probably a smart move considering that they could potentially end up in the same niche market in the future. Friendly competition is just so much more pleasant than all out rivalry. We could also see Wolfram get bought out by Google if the product proves its worth and Mr. Wolfram finds himself in need of a gadzillion dollars (unlikely considering that he has many other successful products on the market including the famous Mathematica).
Then the big question becomes, how does Wolfram Alpha monetize this type of search? Why would you want to click through to a website for info on a product when all you are looking for is the answer to a question? In Google you are looking for websites and ads are just another website that happens to be paid for. Perhaps Google/Doubleclick with their advertising genius will be able to help Mr. Wolfram find the answer to this advertising conundrum.
Or maybe Mr Wolfram should just install his addon and ask Wolfram Alpha:
How can Wolfram Alpha make money off of Wolfram Alpha?
Because regardless of how amazing a product is, if it can’t make money its survival comes into question.
Dowload the addons here:
http://www.wolframalpha.com/downloads.html
(I’m sure Mr Wolfram already thought of all of this. I hear he’s really smart.)