Google looks to compete with Amazon Prime, offer speedy delivery service in 2012

You ordered a nifty thing. Now the nifty thing has to make your day by arriving. Then you will have your nifty thing and a warm and nifty feeling inside. Evidently, Google’s following this very line of thinking, because it seems to be in talks with various retailers and shippers to create a service that lets customers receive within 24 to 48 hours. In line with sources cited by the Wall Street Journal, the company’s effort is motivated by the success of Amazon’s Prime service, which permits customers to receive many purchased items within an afternoon or two for an annual fee of $79. Google, in turn, has apparently pitched the project to retailers along with Macy’s, Gap and OfficeMax. Under the proposed system, when shoppers place an order on an affiliate’s website, Google’s system could kick in to supply them an option for same-day or possibly next-day delivery, said an individual acquainted with the problem. Sources indicated that Google plans to begin a pilot test of the service within the San Francisco Bay Area sometime in 2012, which — by then — we’ll have way more serious issues to take care of than tracking numbers.