Dive Brief:

• It seems Google and Amazon are poised to face off in an unusual marketplace for two well-known tech giants. The Seattle Times reports Amazon is about to launch a housecleaning service for Amazon Prime members, and ClickZ pointed to Google Home Services ads running in beta offering services like plumbers and locksmiths that have been vetted and in some cases guaranteed by Google.
• Amazon might be the closer of the two in formally rolling out its housekeeping service as the Seattle Times reports it’s already advertising for “Amazon Assistants” to fill the role.
• The Google Home Services beta has expanded from San Francisco to Sacremento and included a recent test on mobile, per ClickZ. 

Dive Insight:

Both companies are already involved in competition for the home, but in a space that makes a bit more sense —the Internet of Things. Amazon has its Echo personal in-home assistant, and Google offers its Nest IoT devices as well as digital assistants that can help manage IoT devices.

Google has long been known for outside-the-box ideas. Recently it’s been pushing hard into the travel space with a new app as well as with an investment in Airbnb. In October it was noted that what had previously been Google My Business listings turned into to the Google Services ad units, offering a way for searchers to get quotes from local handymen in San Francisco and Sacramento. The listings are sponsored, with each tradesman having been vetted by Pinkerton Corporate Risk Management, and Google is actually guaranteeing some of the services.

Amazon has also been actively branching out from its e-commerce roots with its Amazon Prime service that includes streaming video and music, hardware devices ranging from the Echo assistant to Fire Sticks to Kindle devices, and grocery delivery services that may soon include actual brick-and-mortar grocery stores. Adding housekeeping to Prime’s total offerings wouldn’t be completely coming from left field, but home services is a space that neither Google nor Amazon likely had on the horizon even a few years ago.