San Francisco - Ten years ago Google was just a misspelling
of an obscure mathematical term that few had ever heard off. But then
on September 7 1998 two Stanford University graduates founded a
company with the name based on a cool idea of how to make web
searches more accurate by analyzing links to websites.
What followed was one of the most meteoric rises in US corporate
history, resulting in a hugely profitable company that rakes in 150
billion dollars per year.
But Google faces numerous challenges as it tries to keep growing.
The company still relies on search advertising for over 90 per cent
of its revenues, and its critics contend that it abuses its dominant
position on the web to encroach on users' privacy.
Yet the anniversary comes as Google makes important strides to
consolidate its position as the world's dominant technology company
by providing users with ever cooler tools. The unveiling this week of
Google Chrome, the company's first web browser, highlighted its
ambition to move most computing functions from the desktop to the web
and thus undercut its great rival Microsoft.
Google watchers had long predicted that the company would produce
its own browser. But Eric Schmidt, the seasoned chief executive
brought in by Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page to provide
'adult supervision,' consistently delayed the project until he
thought the brash young upstart was mature enough to tackle the most
important battle of its life.
'When I joined Google in 2001, Larry and Sergey immediately said,
'We should build our own browser,'' Schmidt told Wired Magazine. 'And
I said no.'
It wasn't the right time, Schmidt told them. 'I did not believe
that the company was strong enough to withstand a browser war,' he
said.
But with annual revenues of over 20 billion dollars, profits of 5
billion dollars, growth of 35 per cent and a host of applications
that run over the internet and need the support of a purpose-built
browser, Google's 10th anniversary seems an auspicious time for the
launch.
It's far from the only arrow in Google's quiver. The company is
also about to see the first cellphone based on its Android software,
which Google hopes will extend its dominance from the laptop to the
mobile internet, while its YouTube video site is the unchallenged
leader in the online video space.
Critics point out that none of these initiatives are assured of
success - Google's users may not download the browser, or like the
Android phones, while online advertisers are wary of linking their
brands to the questionable content of YouTube.
But even if Google never succeeds in successfully developing a
single other application - which is doubtful since it employs 16,000
of the brightest people on the planet - its achievements until now
will mark it as one of the most revolutionary companies the world has
known.
Before Google, using a search engine was a hit and miss affair
that usually left users with little option but to scroll through
pages of search results to find anything close to the answer they
were looking for. With Google, out popped the answer immediately. It
was orders of magnitude better than anything that came before it.
Equally important for the development of the internet was Google's
concept of selling advertising linked to search and site content. If
people were searching for 'teddy bears', then teddy bear sellers were
likely to pay more money than pharmaceutical companies to get their
information in front of those people, Google reasoned. And if you had
a blog about teddy bears, wouldn't teddy bear companies like to
advertise on your site?
Google's innovation was to create a system that was scalable
across the web. It took a page out of the online marketplace eBay and
auctioned off search terms to the highest bidder.
It also developed a program called Adsense, which analyzed the
content on blogs and websites and sold relevant ads to the highest
bidders, who only had to pay if the customer clicked on the ad. These
developments powered the explosion of the internet, allowing the
creation of millions of new sites and blogs catering to every
imaginable niche.
Other innovations included the scanning of millions of books so
that their texts are searchable online, the creation of mapping
technologies that included street views and navigable birds-eye views
stitched together from satellite images - and all supported by
relevant ads.
'I see the history of the internet as BG and AG - before Google
and after Google,' says tech analyst Carmi Levy. 'They rewrote how we
find stuff online, and reshaped how ads are delivered and paid for.
It's a once-in-a generation company.'
Levy believes that Microsoft, which was the previous holder of
that crown, is doomed by Google's dominance. 'The company is awash
with cash and is using it to drive innovation, but someday some other
company will 'outgoogle google,' he says.
It's unlikely to happen anytime soon, but who knows? After all
just 10 years ago Google was just an obscure mathematical term.
USA
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