Answers so far:
1. Google ain't it, integration is.
I agree that web services will be profitable in integration market. But
great deal of hype surrounding web services is user-oriented (i.e.
HailStorm). So what is the point of arguing about Google API being
SOAP-based or not if there is no business case for it in the first
place?
2. Web services allow Google to be on the desktop.
Yes, I can see a lot of use for having Google on the desktop. But how
can web service-based Google application developers compete with HTML
scrapping apps that doesn't have to pay Google any money?
Google could:
a. litigate HTML scraping application developers into going underground
or passing ads through to application GUI.
b. offer web services-based features not available through HTML.
I don't see (a) being very effective. (b) will work but requires fairly
significant investment.
3. Google appliance
If this is the only way Google can justify their API, wake me up when
there is news.
Best,
Don Park
