Jarvis is the author of the Internet and media website http://www.buzzmachine.com/ and his book looks at some of the lessons of Google success that could be adapted to other companies and industries. A general theme that's examined is the idea of open-source innovation and product development and the book excerpt (that can be found here) is about how open-source could be utilized by the beleaguered Big Three automakers.
The excerpt is interesting in it's examples of what Ford, Chrysler and GM could (but, likely won't) do to utilize consumer feedback in the design and features of new autos. In addition, Jarvis writes about the concepts of both community and personalization... and how much could be done to more closely connect consumers with their cars. There are steps in these areas already being taken by both BMW and Toyota's Scion brand and Jarvis describes how this could be taken further following this "Google model" of development.
