Google is branching out – it’s just bought a paper mill of all things. What’s it going to use it for? Find out what we think after the jump!
Google has just bought a paper factory in Finland – a bit of an unusual acquisition for a company used to buying web start ups like Blogger.
The search giant picked up the Summa Mill site for a cool €40million, but it seems like a strange acquisition to make when Google is also making layoffs and closing services. What’s it planning?
“We are currently considering to build a data centre at this site,” a Google spokesperson told Reuters.
That sounds surprisingly uncertain though, so here’s our list of things we reckon Google has shortlisted for the site.
Google eReader
Could Google be weighing in to the eReader market? Just think of the publicity spin it could put on making virtual books in an old paper mill!
Google Newspaper
Is Google planning an entry into they volatile print publishing industry? It has dabbled in print advertising before, but we’re not sure AdWords would work so well without the hyperlinks.
Google Library
We know that Google is trying to make as many books available on Google Book Search as possible, but maybe it’s also planning its own shrine to the hardback, with a real life library, a bit like the British Museum, with a pristine copy of every book ever printed.
Google GDrive centre
We’re not certain if GDrive will launch this year or not, but if it does, we expect Google will need a few more than one dedicated server centres for everyone’s files.
Data Centre
Boring, but also the clear frontrunner. Google probably needs a new place to host its servers for northern Europe – a big empty factory would do nicely.
Have we missed any possibilities out? Give us a shout with your Google-flavoured theories below.
Out TBC | £TBC | Google (Via TechCrunch)
Didn’t Nokia start out as a paper mill?