Has Google Grown Too Big?
Search Engine Advertising is at the Centre of Technology Competition
Sep 15, 2009
Google is starting to look like Microsoft in the mid-1990s, say some business experts, and that may or may not be a good thing.
"There are many parallels between Google and a young Microsoft when it was a hip teenager," says Andrea Matwyshyn, Wharton School professor of legal studies and business ethics at the University of Pennsylvania. "The risk to Google is not learning from Microsoft's mistakes."
Google Challenges Technology Services Leaders
In 1998, Microsoft lost a lawsuit to Netscape when Microsoft attempted to strangle the competition by bundling Internet Explorer into the Windows operating system. Then, in 2002, an antitrust suit against the software giant forced Microsoft to share its application interfaces with third parties.
Now, Google is tangling with Microsoft by playing the same game. Google’s recent expansion into productivity software combined with its dominance in the search business has pushed Microsoft and Yahoo together into creating a competitive search engine, Bing. That venture is now under review by the U.S. Justice Department.
And now, it appears that Google is taking on Apple.
Apple refused to approve Google Voice to run on it’s popular iPhone because, Apple said, it replaced iPhone's distinctive user interface with Google's own interface for telephone calls, text messaging and voicemail.
The Key to Search Engine Advertising is Mobile
The mobile market is one that Google cannot afford to ignore. According to recent statistics, mobile phone users accessing a search engine through their device has increased by approximately 71% in the last year and use of a mobile to access internet content has doubled in the same time period.
Access to the mobile market is vital because most businesses see the future of advertising there, says Eric Bradlow, a marketing professor at Wharton. Mobile access is the means to access consumers often and while the are more likely to be in the mood to purchase.
What makes Google different in this competition is that Google comes at everything it does with advertising at its core, say technology experts at Wharton.
Google isn’t interested in the hardware business, says Wharton management professor, David Hsu, Google just wants the information and advertising. “Google is very much in business against any company that may interrupt its core search advertising model."
The Saving Grace of Google’s Search Engine Popularity
This ambition of Google’s could be good for the consumer. As the technology giants battle for market share, consumers will reap the benefits of more options becoming available to them.
But, since the Google collects so much information, it’s possible that one day it will be able to guess a user’s intentions from search behaviour, emails and text messages, and with that convenience comes privacy concerns.
Eric Clemons, an operations and information management professor at Wharton, says that Google’s brilliance lies in its popularity. It may never know any backlash from regulators or consumers because of its popularity.
"Google is as beloved as can be," Clemons says. “And now Google has created the illusion that Google is giving you something for free. But nothing is really free."
Source: Google Everywhere: As the Search Giant Grows, How Much Is Too Much?
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