Will YouTube become Google's iPod?

Much has been written about Google's acquisition last week of YouTube, but there are so many fascinating aspects to this that people will probably go on talking about it for months and years to come. Google's largest acquisition to date, and their strongest foray into the world of "social media" will be a game-changer, and consequently the $1.65 billion worth of Google stock required for the purchase should be viewed in the same context as the investment that Apple made in developing the iPod. In many ways, these two investments are similar to each other. Sure, there are other online video search engines available, like Blinkx, just as there were other devices for playing digital music before the iPod was introduced. However, there is now without question a dominant brand, and everyone else will be relegated to playing catch-up for the foreseeable future.

While much of the criticism of the deal has focused on Google’s legal exposure for copyright violations on the YouTube site, we shouldn’t forget that the same thing was said about Apple, when they jumped into the online music game at just about the same time that Napster was being shut down. The difference between success and disaster was 1) a superior marketing strategy, 2) a superior brand, and 3) a fearless willingness to take the initiative and change the game. Everything else falls into place from there.