Cool post, and I agree. My question is probably not geared toward you, but the audience:<p>Why can't we just celebrate the fact that Google built something new instead of beat it to death with criticisms of how it isn't perfect or a game changer, etc?<p>I like new tech and new products to play with, whether they come from YC, Google, or the hacker down the street.
I'm rooting for you guys over Google, but I view speed as the #1 feature and I don't see anyway you can compete on that front right now with Google owning ITA.
Yes. It's the Italian Restaurant argument all over again.<p>There's room in town for more than one, and everybody you ask will have their own favourite.
What this does mean is that you should always look carefully at where you get your traffic and your hosting. You don't want to be dependent on a big competitor for either of those.<p>All it takes is one tweak of an algorithm or a prolonged outage to put you out of business.
The thing to fear is Google changing the SERPs in their favor. Google maps owns the local space because all local searches lead to Google maps. In this case, unlike local, I don't think there are many searches for Google to hijack (I think they call it "OneBox"). I agree that it means little other than Google is going to monopolize the travel press for a few weeks.
It means little to Hipmunk because they don't exactly have huge traction yet... They're more of a threat to Expedia or Orbitz. Hipmunk isn't even mainstream.