Google Logistics?

Could Google be competing with FedEx and UPS anytime soon?

Suspicions have been raised that the search engine giant is seriously considering entering the logistics field after it was awarded a patent on electronic shipping notifications.

Here are a few clips of the patent’s abstract itself:

A broker facilitates customer purchases from merchants. Shippers ship shipments containing the purchases from merchants to the customers. A shipper identifies a shipment using a shipment identifier.

The broker uses the shipment identifier to obtain the status information for the shipment from the shipper. The broker analyzes the status information in combination with other information to calculate an estimate of the time that the shipment will arrive at the customer's address.

The broker sends an electronic message, such as an email or text message, to the customer prior to the estimated shipment arrival time to inform the customer of the impending arrival. The customer can thus arrange for someone to be at the shipping address to receive the shipment at the estimated arrival time.

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Sounds a lot like something a logistics leader like UPS or FedEx would be working on, doesn’t it? While it’s anyone’s guess at this point what the minds at Google are up to, one thing is for certain:

FedEx, UPS, DHL and other logistics leaders will be keeping a close watch on Google’s next move.