I've been assuming they'd do this for years, and they haven't, which makes me think they actually won't be doing this at all. Perhaps their stock performance will change that.<p>Additional thought: This could really help them monetize mobile which may actually push it to be a possibility. They have tons of trouble monetizing mobile users (and see the shift as more users access the service that way), so if they could nail local search it could be a huge win for them.
It's a really good idea for their stock price. I think they would REALLY become something of a juggernaut if they did that though.<p>I wonder how many years they could get away with it before the government broke them up?