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Best Buy Agrees To Distribute Google Mobile App

Not sure what to make of this one, as it feels slightly oily. Google and Best Buy announced a new program whereby Best Buy employees will help customers download and install the Google Mobile app on their brand new cell phone.

Best Buy has an internal program called "Walk Out Working". The basic tenet of Walk Out Working is to make sure that customers who purchase [insert product name here] leave the store with a fuller -- or at least better -- understanding of how the device works. For some perspective, Sprint retail stores offer something similar, and Verizon is making sure that new Droid owners leave stores with some basic knowledge about how their shiny new Droid works. From a customer service and support angle, the idea makes total sense.

This new idea goes a step further. For owners of BlackBerry, Windows Mobile or S60 devices, Best Buy employees will help users download and install the Google Mobile App. The app lets users search by voice and with My Location, and gives users quicker access to Google Search, Maps, Gmail, and so on.

Worried they will only help if you buy a new phone? No so. Best Buy employees will help out anyone who walks into their store with the Google download and install process.

The Google Mobile App distribution deal that Google has struck with Best Buy is an obvious attempt to get more eyeballs on mobile Web pages that Google can serve ads to.

If Google is that serious about increasing usage of the mobile Web, I think there are better ways to do it. First, it could strike deals with the wireless network operators to pre-install the application on all compatible handsets. This should be Google's first step. For example, Verizon announced not too long ago that Microsoft's Bing search engine is its search client of choice for all capable devices. Verizon recently pushed out a Bing search client to its BlackBerry smartphones. That's a major loss for Google.

Best Buy's agreement to help end users circumvent whatever the default search engine is on their handsets reeks of desperation on Google's part.

Of course, nothing is preventing tech savvy users from pointing their phone's browser at m.google.com and downloading the application themselves.

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