Last night the Silicon Valley news types were all abuzz with the news that Google is set to unveil their plan to compete with Groupon in the local, group-buying space. Google made a play to buy out Groupon for $6 billion last year after Groupon became the biggest player in an increasingly-crowded "pay $20, get $40 coupon" business model and possibly the fastest growing company ever. Now, probably feeling a bit scorned by Groupon's snubbing, Google is coming out swinging.

Aside from Google's hands-off, self-service model for vendors, however, the Google Offers (which, let's be honest, should have been named "Goopons") don't actually seem to offer much more than any of the other dozen or so competitors in the space. The most obvious advantage for the behemoth in Mountain View is their ability to stick their offers in your gmail, your search results and right on the maps you use to search for nearby restaurants and businesses - something other companies can do currently, but only by paying for the ad space.

[Mashable]