Widgets or Gadgets? Google does both.

I was at the IAB's Engage Edinburgh yesterday (photos) and got to talk about the Future of Search. I hinted at the future containing Gadget Ads - I guess I didn't need to hint as Google released that news on the same day.

It is also true to say that I was playing safe as Pheedo has been running 'Gadget Ads' for ages now. At least, their offering is effectively Gadget Ads.

I also noticed yesterday that we wrote a story called Google Embraces 'Widgets' for Online Advertising. Our newsletter has a mixed reader base; some SEOrs, some PPCers, some techies as well as journalists, mainstream marketers and senior managers. For the newsletter we need to keep the language at a certain level.

However, back here on my blog I can be more precise. Here's the current rules on whether to say "widget" or whether to say "gadget".
  • Yahoo has Widgets
  • Google has Desktop Gadgets, iGoogle Gadgets and Gadget Ads.
  • Google has Widgets for the Mac Dashboard.
  • Google has Widgets for the Google Web Toolkit
So, in effect, Google builds their Gadgets from widgets (unless you're on a Mac).

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi Andrew

Great post

Microsoft are also a "gadget" shop :-)

We're beginning to take the wrappers of our "widget" play - http://www.koodos.com/page/widgets is a good example

Talk Soon
Fergus

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