Is google wave an opportunity or a threat?

Following my previous article, I got several feedbacks about either Google Wave was about to “kill” the competition, as I stated, or if it is simply a game changer.

I shouldn’t have say “kill” or “destroy”. These words are quite strong and might offence some people. especially the ones I cited. I own an apology for such an aggressive approach.

Do not take me wrong, I love services like Bluekiwi or Seesmic Desktop and I’ve been recommending almost all of them to people in need of collaborative tools. @carlosdiaz, you are right by saying Google Waves represents an opportunity.

What I meant, like @mdangear said it, is that Google Wave might be a game changer.

Google Wave is entirely open source and already includes lot’s of services that most of companies would need. It consequently appears like a threat to the numerous companies which went into social software for companies without a real competitive advantage.

I see it has a great way to push collaborative tools into companies, previously not using them. Too many companies are still too “1.0″ and google Wave might be the best way for them to discover these collaborative tools such as wikis, shared docs… before developing their own tools based on their needs.

That’s where services such as Bluekiwi might enter the game by proposing customized tools and integrating their own services using the Google API.

It is too early to tell, Wave being only a few days old, but like it did with Google Maps, Google Apps… Google might take over the market, leaving existing companies on niche markets and specialized areas.

You can’t deny that Google, with their different innovations, pushed the market forward and I really hope that it will do the same with collaboration tools in companies, allowing smart companies to benefit from its services.

Google Wave is not about to “kill” the competition, it will just push weak companies aside and allow smart and efficient ones to grow and benefit from it.