How much of Google do you use?
Maybe I’m the only one that thinks this, but IMO Google seems to be throwing every idea up against the wall to see if it sticks, and so far has been extremely unsuccessful in getting anything other than Search, News, and perhaps Gmail, to work.
Take this simple test:
1. Go to their “More” page
2. How many of those services have you tried?
3. Out of the ones you’ve tried, which ones do you regularly use?
For me, I just use Search & News. I use Google mail when I will travel to far-off lands that won’t let me use my laptop. That’s it.
I’ve tried Picasa, then uninstalled it. Google Earth: was extremely impressed 2-3 times and haven’t used it since. I don’t trust their privacy policies so I stay away from Desktop or Pack.
Google seems like an “infant” company. Infants touch everything they can get their hands on and quickly put it in their mouth. And right now the press just loves a new baby.
My prediction is that over time, the Google honeymoon will be over and we’ll look at them just a little more critically than we do today. It’s already started w/ their stock prices taking some hits.
I think Adsense/Adwords is highly assailable. Competition will either erode their share paying by higher rates, or erode their profit by forcing Google to pay a higher percentage of the gross revenue.
Gmail is cool, but I’d like to see how much revenue they actually get on the clickthroughs. It’s one thing to click on a relevant ad when you’re actually searching for something, but I’ve NEVER clicked on an ad while I’m trying to get my email work done.
I love Google News, but they aren’t making $0.01 off it. And if they ever do decide to monetize, I think MSM will sue the crap out of them for copyright infringement.
Time will tell if I’m right on this.
Another service that everyone uses is Google Maps which pretty much single handedly revolutionized internet mapping services. Also, you’d be surprised by how many people actually use Google SMS. I’ve seen seriously non technical people surprise the hell out of me when they reach for their mobile phone to do a Google search.
In many ways, Google is the anti-microsoft. Where as MS waits for others to innovate, sees what sticks, then copies, Google does all the innovation themselves, sees what sticks, then monetizes it. All things considered, they actually have a very robust model. Despite the large number of services they come out with, 70% of their resources still go to the search engine and core revenue generating projects. The model is working so well for them, the even MS has tried to do some innovation (http://spaces.msn.com/rayozzie/blog/cns!FB3017FBB9B2E142!285.entry?_c11_blogpart_blogpart=blogview&_c=blogpart#permalink) and they’re even developing an advertising subsidized model of their own. As for Google stock, the lower it goes the more i buy.