We're very pleased to announce mesh is sold out! This is a very positive and gratifying sign because it demonstrates the growing interest in Web 2.0 within Canada's high-tech community. For more information on mesh, visit our blog. We're looking forward to seeing everyone on Monday morning!

In Canada, there's a grocery chain called Loblaws that has a premium, in-house brand called President's Choice. It is a fast-growing, high-margin business so over the years, Loblaws has aggressively expanded the brand into every aisle with hundreds of products ranging from orange juice and salsa to diapers and clothing. The Loblaws's strategy strategy is they have a team of product developers that travel around the world looking for cool products. When they find one with   potential, Loblaws strikes a deal and gets a private-label manufacturer to make it for them.
  In many way, I can't help but see a connection between Loblaws and Google with the recent launch of Google Trends, Google Co-op and Google Notebook. With an army of PhDs and programmers toiling away, there is no limit to what Google's development machine can produce. You want a financial service? Here's Google Finance. Looking for a new health site? Come on over to Google Health. Is blog search getting interesting? Here's Google Blog Search.
  So what's the "game" other than "we can build them so we do"? - particularly when most of these new services are revenue-free. That's a big mystery but I think it's about seeding the market with useful services, attracting a critical mass of users, and then creating a business model after you've established a market leadership position and/or knocked rivals out of the game. For example, I was showing my boss the wonders of Google Finance recently and the fact it has no advertising. It dawned on both of us that once Google Finance (which is very impressive) becomes the site for investors, there's no reason why Google can't move into the online brokerage business by itself, through an acquisition or partnership. What about Google Trends? Steve Rubel has also talked about its value as a marketing and PR tool. What would stop Google from offering premium services to marketing and PR customers? Like the President's Choice brand, there is no limit to what Google can launch. Some of it will fail (Froogle, Okrut), while others will be smash hits (Google Earth, Google Finance). When you've got financial firepower, there is no reason but to do whatever you like if it means that once in awhile you strike gold.

Update: For more on Google's new services, check out ZDNet and Search Engine Journal.

What's with all these money-losing telecom companies going public these days? First, it's Vonage with its troubling addiction to marketing; then Mitel Networks files its prospectus as its spends aggressively on sales, marketing and R&D to compete with Cisco, Avaya, et al in the IP communications market; and now Craig McCaw's Clearwire Corp. announces plans to raise as much as $400-million through an IPO.  If you have an insatiable appetite for wireless and a strong tolerance for red ink, Clearwire is definitely for you. In 2005, the company lost $139.9-million on sales of $33.4-million (which include equipment sales of $25-million). The company said it has 88,000 wireless broadband customers in the U.S. and 11,500 in Ireland and Belgium. The broadband market needs more competition but it's going to be tough and expensive for Clearwire to capture a large enough foothold to create a viable business. The carriers are moving aggressively with DSL to offset the loss of local phone lines while the cablecos are pushing broadband as a way to push in the phone business. Clearwire's largest shareholders are Craig McCaw's Eagle River Holdings (47.2%), Bell Canada (14.4%) and entrepreneur Jim Clark (7%). Bell invested $100-million in Clearwire last year, and provides Clearwire with the technology it uses to provide VoIP service.
Update: For more Clearwire's IPO plans, check out Om Malik. VentureWire quotes Visant Strategies analyst Andy Fuentes, who believes Clearwire will need $5-billion to compete nationally with the mobile carriers. TelcoTrash has an insightful list of the key parts of Clearwire's S-1.