There’s no doubt that Google has changed the way the world’s online information is gathered and stored. Google state that their mission is to make the web’s aggregated information “universally accessible and useful.”
It would appear that this is quite a simple mission statement for a company that already dominates over 85% of the planet’s search market share and has 620 million daily visitors to Google.com.
But Google are taking the ‘usefulness’ and functionality of online information so much further.
Google owns mobile phone software that works like a computer, communication platforms that allow you to contact everyone you do (or don’t yet) know and apps that can answer every question or situation you may face.
Here’s a sugarcoated overview of Google’s most impressive acquisitions and projects:
Google Chrome – OS
Google Chrome is an open source Operating System that has been designed to work exclusively with web applications. Google Chrome integrates application and standard web pages into a single tab and “is aimed at users that spend most of their computer time on the internet.” Google’s Chrome OS has an expected release for the second half of 2010 and is free to the public.
Google Chrome – Web Browser
Google Chrome has been designed to work with Web Applications and aims to improve ‘security, speed and stability’ when surfing the net, through its Application performance and JavaScript processing speed. Google Chrome currently holds 5.61% of the web browser market share, a big feat since its release in September 2009.
Google Wave – Personal Communication Software
Google Wave will be the new Facebook. Big call, I know but this web-based service creates a unified personal communication platform via voice, text, photos, videos, maps, and other digital tools. The aim is for multiple users to set up a collaborative environment known as a “wave” and then edit the content and add replies, just like a wiki.
Android – Mobile Software
Bought by Google in 2005 and announced in November 2007, Android is a open-source mobile phone operating system that will have enough apps to run your life, nearly. There are over 20,000 android phone applications available and over 60,000 new android phones are shipped daily.
Google Goggles – Android App
Google Goggles is an android application that allows phone users to search Google via pictures they take on their mobile phones. Google use various image recognition back ends such as object recognition then returns relevant search results. See the following video:
YouTube – Video Sharing
Google bought YouTube in October 2006 for $1.65 billion; not a bad deal for a garage project! If you didn’t already know how massive YouTube is, this video sharing platform dominates nearly 40% of the online video market share in the USA. With 20 hours of video uploaded every minute, YouTube will have no problems broadcasting the Indian Premier League this month.
So how did Lord Google gain its Googlopoly? They simplified accessing the web, built trust with users’ and managed to release technologies at the right pace for the market and society. Not to mention that most Google products are free; a surefire way to increase popularity.
With 45% of Google’s products still in Beta, I’m pretty sure that Google’s world domination is just getting started. Just Google it.
Popularity: 23%
i concur, its a healthy dominance, google simply works, we all trust it and use it. only scary thing is the way it is now storing our movements in an online database. is google going to be the next big brother threat? only time will tell……..to be continued.
We do have to be careful with what information google has access to on a long term basis. while they do facilitate many forms of digital communication, it will certainly be interesting to see how these projects pan out.. considering they will be competing with already established networks.
We’ll see about that…
An extremely well-written article. Very insightful as well. Google is so popular because of how easy it is to use. Not only that but none of the other search engines can compare. For example, after using Google, Yahoo feels so cluttered and hard to read.
Keep up the good work!