First of all, they couldn't come up with a better name for a crazy project like this one: Loon.
Balloon-powered Internet for all!
If Project Loon becomes a success, where does that lead Google to?
- Google will become the undisputed champion of the Internet service providers, making everything else look obsolete, and eventually getting rid of the hassles of laying down cables all around us. Think about it, right now only 1/3rd of the people on this planet are on the Internet, and still the Internet looks HUGE. Add twice the current population, plus account for the population rise in the next 5-10 years, and EVERYONE on this planet will be using the Internet, which Google provides (better quality and low costs). How about that for a business opportunity?
- More than triple the amount of people using the Internet would mean a massive increase in the number of Google searches (probably more than 5x if you consider the fact that when third world countries finally come online, the not so fortunate uneducated folks will get their primary source of information in the form of google.com). Now think about the money they can make with Google ads and stuff like that.
- Gmail, YouTube - They will witness a tremendous increase in the traffic on these sites as well. The more people using your service on the Internet, the more the money you make!
I've read concerns relating to this becoming an eye in the sky, which will take surveillance to a whole new level, giving the authorities the perfect tool to monitor your each and every moment. In particular, I won't be very concerned with those because if you are on the Internet, every single thing that you do can anyways be monitored, doesn't matter much if it's from a control room on the land, or from way up there in the sky. Also, I kind of believe in the saying that if you ain't doing anything wrong, then you got nothing to hide and be afraid of! But if governments start using this as a tool to monitor military movements of other countries and all that crap, then it might become a huge problem. I sincerely hope Google will find a way around it.
That said, let there be no doubt about it, it's a revolutionary idea by Google, one that will certainly push the human race forward and bring in a new era of digital age. Fortunately for us, Google is in a position to invest in and develop breakthrough technologies in their secret Lab X, and they probably deserve every single penny worth of money that they stand to make from this.
The advantages of providing Internet to each and every human being on this planet are of gigantic proportions:
- Information would never have been available at this ease in the history of this planet, everything just a couple of clicks away, from any corner of the world you are in.
- Education: There are millions of poor children all over the world who haven't even heard the word 'school.' Loon has the potential to become a school on the air for the under privileged.
- Medicine: Health and hygiene information can be made easily available to the people who haven't even heard of the word doctor.
- Collaboration: Connecting with the remote countries and inaccessible terrains will no longer be impossible. It'll eliminate the need to lay down cables in those areas, and live weather forecast reports in such areas would be of a great help to the locals there.
- Costs: This technology has the potential to drastically bring down the cost of using Internet, and to increase the quality at the same time.
Google will steal the 'connecting the world' crown from Facebook by the end of this decade!
Let 'em fly, Google!
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