Two weeks ago we wrote about Yamli, a powerful transliteration engine that allows users to use their Latin keyboards to type in Arabic text. The service has gotten rave reviews (see the comments), and serves a very large audience that has largely been neglected.
Now we’ve gotten word that Google has launched its own competing service, and is using a dubious advertising scheme to get the word out. Running searches for “Yamli” or “Yamli.com” on any of Google’s Arabic portals (like Google.ae) will prominently display ads for Google’s competing service alongside the search results.
Google’s AdWords policy is to only ban names trademarked outside of the United States, The UK, and Canada from being used as ad keywords. I contacted Yamli’s CEO, who says that his trademark is filed in the United States (though he has plans to apply for one elsewhere), so it sounds like Google isn’t directly violating its own policies. But the practice is undeniably shady. And searches for other competitive sites don’t return results for Google products (for example, a search for “Wikipedia” doesn’t return an ad for Google Knol).
Google has long been criticized for using its own AdWords advertising service to promote its own products (other search engines do the same, and have fallen under similar scrutiny). Google may not technically be breaking any of its own policies with these Yamli ads, but it’s ignoring its oft-spoken mantra: “Don’t Be Evil”.
Update: Google has removed the ad.
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Why is this evil? Whoever has the better product wins.
Sure, but this is the exact copycat of Yamli. Morally speaking, Google should have acquired the company rather than stealing their idea and interface 100%. I feel bad for 2 co-founders who spent a lot of time in to making it sucessful, only to see Google coming up with a copycat.
welcome to the “free” market. shame on G for not sharing a little wealth. something that will never be free and forever be the most sought out substance for users and businesses on the internet is strategic premium location. mylocator platform can never be duplicated top level. there will never be dispute who started the greatest strategic location network ever created.
“mylocator 1300 channel footprint is forever strategically embedded the digital landscape we call “cyberspace”. if cyberspace was only called “locationspace” we could have solved this whole internet thing a long time ago.
GenuineLocator.com-got fake?
It’s shady cuz you’re not Google and you can’t do what they do. If you were them, it would be called competitive edge.
Good catch techcrunch. All this tactics need not be sorted in court, like aa.com did. All it needs is some common sense that google wants to become os monopoly of web, i cal search and others as platform.
…it’s kinda like Microsoft bundling IE with it’s operating system to defeat Netscape. Technically, it’s not evil, but good business practice. But since the tech community has labeled MS as evil, they must now turn around and give Google the same label as to not appear as favoritists.
When you control the search, you control … information.
NEWMAN!
Yeah, this is not really grounds for being shady. Just seems like a contextual link to me.
Yamli doesn’t have any meaning in Arabic … Just like you can’t adv for eBay or Amazon you shouldn’t advertise for other company names. At the very least Google should know that !
yamli means autocompletion
no it is not, it is derived as a branding name form the word Umly أملي not Yamli يملي . we are talking Fus7a here not slang, btw i used yYmli.com to type these 2 Arabic words
sorry typo i meant Yamli.com
Yup- my vote is contextual. You search one translator and the adds pop up another… go figure. That is what adsense does!
This is why Yahoo shouldn’t do advertising deal with Google.
Good point.
Lets all boycott Google and build our own search engine powered by the people for the people.
Will you find someone really interested in your idea? See the dead CUIL , the latest example
that’s not cool. cuil is alive. I just checked.
Sounds like a recipe for mediocrity.
thanks for reporting on this. really interesting story. BTW I have started using ASK for sensitive searches and love them. The problem is that I have gmail and google knows who I am. Google are currently the best but ask.com or ask.co.uk are getting better and better.. Try them
This is one of the things that can scare the hell out of a startup company.
Yamli has a beta search that’s gonna be released soon to the public which should bury this little Google widget.
Elie from Woopra.
Often, “shady” is used as a eumphemism for “very creative, why didn’t we see that coming” - Mark
its fucking google page.. they can do what the fuck they like.. just like on this page.. u have an ad of Seesmic here below…
get over it ppl.. its business.. u gotta cut throat.. to get ahead..
Lame Duck we all know you are a troll but you are right it is cut throat. People are just a little confused here. They don’t get that all corporations must appear to have virtues because that is the business model that yields the most profit but these virtues are nothing more than an illusion. Machiavellian is a word that comes to mind.
In reality it is always about the money. The board members who have millions invested in these companies don’t care about the user or other companies, they care about their bank accounts.
Google is just another corporation and people need to wake up and realize that. They offer some good services but they do so because it is profitable to do so. If you want to be in this business you have to be willing to compete with them. They may have all the money in the world but Yahoo had all the money in the world at one time. Google found a weakness in Yahoo and exploited it, why can’t someone else do that to Google?
Don’t give me it is a money issue. Remember Google started with a few math nerds.
So people need to quit whining and start competing. Did Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven back down when it was him versus the world? No he kicked some ass.
Do you really think people in the Middle East will want to support a US corporation anyways?
kinda makes me nostalgic about microsoft bundling IE with windows and the legal case that followed. Is it becoming a general trend 4 large monopolistic companies to use unfair means to expand even further?
if { ad = Google}
then {ad = shady}
else {ad = smart/cut-throat}
endif
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The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later.
Seems like Google has every right to do this, it’s just cheaper for them than others.
How is this evil again, I am sure Google’s Ad targeting algorithm probably picked this up as an relevant ad. BTW, is TC showing amount of animosity against Google? I notice Michael Arrington has posted many “concerned” post about the evil of Google.
So I search on Google for Yamil and find, for free, Yamil. Hard to agree with comments that Google is somehow “controlling” access.
OK, the ads. The policy isn’t about whether a term is trademarked in a particular country. It’s about how trademarked terms are treated on Google in particular countries.
In the US, you cannot use a trademarked term in your ad copy. You can, indeed, link an ad to a trademarked term as long as you don’t use it in the copy. So in the ad you show, Google is not using the word “Yamli” in its copy, and that matches the policy.
I don’t see anything shady here. Advertisers buy ads against trademarks all the time on Google. Google’s own competitors like Yahoo and Microsoft buy ads there. Personally, I’ve never liked it, but the policy is based on court rulings that have come out of different countries. As long as the advertiser isn’t misleading someone into thinking they’re reaching a trademarked service, it’s not shady in my book.
That is, with one exception. Last time I looked, Google does prevent anyone automatically within AdWords from linking ads to its own name, “Google.” That’s bull — it shouldn’t get rights others don’t get. I believe you can buy thinks like “Gmail” or “AdWords,” but to automatically stop ads against Google just isn’t on.
I agree with Danny as lots of companies bid on their competitors name in the US. They just make sure the ad copy doesn’t display those terms. Sometimes exceptions are given if you’re using a brand name that has another meaning or represents a location. Serengeti is an example since it is the sunglasses company but also represents a geographic area.
I see that the problem isn’t in Google new product itself, this is business and no problem on this. The only problem I see is how Google let themselves use “Yamli” keyword in their ad!!
When you’re about to create a campaign in Adwords, you’re not allowed to use a registered brand names as a keyword. For example, you cannot use “Amazon” or “eBay” or “Intel” as a keyword in your campaigns, so why Google let themselves do this? It’s against their own policy!!
Note that Google is effectively paying for this ad; if they didn’t show it, they’d instead show a different ad and get paid by the advertiser. Yamli can outbid Google for this ad spot if they want.
Well, it’s kind of hard to compete in price with someone when they are the ones paid either way… =)
….and when you control the mail you control information!
actually, google changed their policy for the UK earlier this year- you can bid on trademarks here as well now…
Neat
Hey Yamli, go fill out the form on this page so you stand a chance.
http://www.google.com/tm_complaint_adwords.html
Fun fact: “Do No Evil” isn’t Google’s motto.
It’s “Don’t Be Evil” and there is a difference. And there is value to fact checking.
Yeah, my mistake sorry about that. I fixed it.
Ugh, thou art holier than all.
Ass.
What difference does it make anyway? A motto means squat just like a politician’s word.
It is a contextual ad. I can’t see anything bad here.
how is this shady? so what.
Let me start by saying yamli rocks. The fact that google is trying to provide a service that competes with yamli is just amazing. The yamli team must be really proud. Lets be fair, Google has the right to build whatever they want. When they fail to compete and provide a better service they usually acquire the company. The best example is google videos and youtube. When google failed to provide a better service than youtube they bought the company. I guess its a good strategy. If you try the two service you can see that yamli is alot more mature than transliterate. Try the simple word “amman” , yamli is alot more accurate. Yamli is still leading this war. Yamli is still on my bookmark list
http://www.google.com/Transliterate
link doesn’t work… must be a hoax.
we use yamli everyday here at work. I tried using the google thing and it is not even close to the functionality and accuracy of Yamli.
You are right guys yamli should be proud that google is copying the concept. But there system needs a lot of work to become as intelligent and as accurate as yamli’s.
GO yamli GO. I love this tool.
This is as evil as a great Junk Food Franchise set a store side by side with one that is managed by mom and dad or place a big ad just outside their store. There is no evil on this, it’s only competition.
If you are good enough, that will not affect at all your business.
Let me give you a real good example. In USA Facebook and MySpace are by far the biggest and most known social network sites, but in Brazil Orkut reins supreme.
My point is, if Facebook or MySpace created an ad with Google Adwords for Google.com.br and every time that somebody searched for Orkut their ad would appear, would this still being considered “shady”?
There’s a definite conflict of interest here. I’m really quite annoyed at seeing how Google goes after innovative startups in such a fashion. Are they really developing a transliteration tool on their end or is it all they have found to discourage Yamli’s innovation efforts– they’re literally trying to cross-market, I mean… Seriously?
Yamli.com provides an excellent product that is superior to Google’s Ta3reeb. Yamli’s platform has yet to provide me with a mistake in translating what I mean to say and correctly place it in proper Arabic. On the other hand Google’s Ta3reeb did not match up. It is true and take time to evaluate both yourself.
If Google is so interested in such a product, I say that they not “do/be evil” and involve themselves in shady business tactics. Just purchase Yamli’s technology - they are the originators of the idea.
Bottom line in my view is that Yamli has a better product that will teach Ta3reeb a good lesson.
Highjacking a startup’s name looks pretty bad, and maybe it will backfire on them.
Google seems to be using a loophole in it’s own set of policies. Yamli couldn’t possibly outbid Google on a Google AdWord. This is surely at odds with Google’s “Don’t be evil” thing. This actually matters I think. In the long term Google should be careful not to seem to overstep it’s bounds or seemingly deviate from it’s stated mission.
I guess Google should market it’s latin->arabic search like it marketed pinyin search. That might not make things a lot easier for Yamli, but it would not be such a blatant abuse of power.
I hope Yamli can compete, and I suspect that Google’s tactics will drive some users away from Google and towards Yamli.
I’m an expert in this domain , and after trying both services , i could say with full confidant Yamli is doing it much better then Google.
Google has always been shady, so I see nothing new
I guess Google could have been a little more creative in their use of key words instead of using a competitors trading name. I think I will write a follow up post to this on http://www.whichwebsite.com
Google is starting to use the same Microsoft tactics that they themselves criticized throughout the years. While is it not black and white, one could say that Microsoft’s policy of putting the IE shortcut on the desktop, top position of the start menu, and first place in the quick launch menu is now being exercised by Google putting an ad for their service as the first item in the search results. I did the same search as in the article and the ad was actually part of the search results and not on the side like the screenshot showed.
Google is fast realizing that the is a lot of competition out there and that, after all, they are a business and not charity and will need to make money to pay for the jets and campuses. To do so, they will need to resort to tactics that were used by other companies (in this case, Microsoft).
The funny thing is that, in my opinion, there is nothing wrong with it. They own the screen real estate and therefore, should be able to do this. I thought the same about the browser wars and still do to this day. If I supply the canvas, I can utilize it for my own gain as well.
What I don’t like, and never liked, was the fact that other companies painted Microsoft as a bad company when they are doing the same since it is required to stay ahead of other companies.
Just my two cents…
Your right - it’s just a bunch of bitching startups who claim they are evil empires, etc. It’s not until they get a little bit of success / grow up, they realise it is just business.
Don’t be evil…? I am sure google is on every persons radar when it comes to a great idea or app for a start up company. A fine line indeed
this isn’t shady. this is called competition and how to write a sensationalist article
why is it evail to put windows media player in windows? it all depends what side you are on, and from what point of view you want to see it.
What Google is doing is unethical, anti-competitive and monopolistic and is pure evil![read more]
one the other hand Google Ta3reeb is far less accurate and is behind Yamli in terms of features see post here:
http://arabcrunch.com/2008/10/.....h-ads.html
Sounds like a hater post. It’s really something Gates does in his sleep. Just healthy competition.
Wait.. Bill Gates owns Google? Crap.
I don’t see the ad anymore although I swear I saw it this morning after reading this, http://blog.sweetestmemories.c.....splay=1571
Seems like someone at Google is reading TC …
I use iGoogle/Google reader. I found it funny that the google ad at the bottom of my reader display when I expand this post is for their transliterate service.
Theodore Roosevelt once said “No people is fully civilized where a distinction is drawn between stealing an office and stealing a purse”, anyways I think Yamli is doing batter since the results r much more accurate, i’m sure any1 used booth of them can c the deference clearly. Simply I love Yamli
Are we forgetting something obvious here? Which site would the demographic yamli is going after more likely want to support? This isn’t as simple as the best product. Google is a huge American corporation. This is a site for Arab reading people who know a little english and don’t have a Arabic keyboard right? US Arab relations are not what you call wonderful. Like cultures tend to support like cultured businesses. Also being niche allows Yamli to adopt policies more in line with the market it serves. Google can’t do this because it must serve all markets.
I can’t see how Google has a chance competing in this market.
This is natural. As someone had mentioned here before, there are many examples of Google attempting to launch a service internally, only to turn around and purchase the service of a competitor because they do it better, and cheaper. Orkut and Google Video come to mind.
In the end, Yamli is so far the superior platform. It was the first to market. It’s API appears on many of the major Arabic websites. And its advertising model is already in place. I would be very surprised if Google Ta3reeb ever catches up or becomes a threat.
My call is Google will buy Yamli. If anyone gets a chance to buy into Yamli, do it now!
Google is evil. I know someone who has sued them. They have lied in court and with held evidence under subpeona.
Don’t be evil is marketing blather. In practice their lawyers will do anything. The good news is they are about to get kicked in the nuts and it will be sweet justice when they get what they have coming.
I expected that google will acquire Yamli not copycat their idea … maybe they though this way they will save some bucks
Most people should have realized that the Do No Evil label has worn off and does not serve to lure the public into a false sense of trust anymore. Get over it! Google is out to make money whatever it takes. The higher the stakes the shadier the tactics.
Why don’t we look at it from a consumer point of view!!
I would be a happy Arabic typist to know what my options are, either it is Yamli or Ta3reeb or any other product… The best product will eventually win!!
unfortunately it is not the best that wins, is it? Is Internet Explorer the best product? It has a market share of 70%!/?!
Google IS the door to the web. This will be hard to change. If Google is evil this can have a devastating effect on the future of the open web. Guys dont be blind and please dont think that Google IS the web. There are other alternatives. One of them I have listed above. http://ask.com (yes I know they have a ad deal with the evils)
I vote for NOT shady, this time. Buying Youtube was shady.
I don’t think Google is evil but it is a little annoying to see the big boy in the market simply copy somebody else. They could have simply bought the competition.