Google on Google

Google onGoogle

Google is a highly successful Internet business. Recently they have broadened their scope with a multitude of new tools. Research Google’s business model and answer the following questions below. You may add additional information not included in these questions.

Questions :
Explain Google’s business model.
1. Who are their competitors?
2. How have they used information technology to their advantage?
3. How competitive are they in the market?
4. What new services do they offer?
5. What makes them so unique?
6. How competitive are they in the international market?


To discuss Google is quite an interesting exercise. I am using this useful search engine over the other because of its quicker response to my query and more relevant answers to what I have expected. And it was confirmed by the PC magazine in 1998 which reports, “Google has an uncanny knack for returning extremely relevant results.” And recognize it as the search engine of choice in the top 100 web sites for 1998.”Yes, I use it frequently every time I search but I never was able to explore the root of what Google has become. And I guess, it is great opportunity to dig in some of the interesting facts about google including its milestones and principles.

SOME TRIVIA

In case you didn’t know, the word Google was derived from the mathematical term “googol” for a 1 followed by 100 zeros. It is quite immense huh. The name in fact reflects the vast existence of information and the scope of Goggle’s mission: to organize the world’s information and make it accessible and useful.

The search engine that has known today as Google was originally named as BackRub. In 1997, founders Larry page and Sergey Bin decide to renew the name and it’s Google.

In August 1997, Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim writes a check for $100,000 to a company called Google Inc, an entity that doesn’t exist yet that time.

Craig Silverstein was Google’s first employee; he's a fellow computer science grad student at Stanford.


GOOGLE’S COMPETITORS

When we talk of Google’s competitors, the ones that put in my mind are the other prominent internet businesses which are also proven successful. Some of these are the Yahoo!, MSN and AOL. But as my researches are concerned, even though they compete on a lot of things, they also agreed to work hand in hand in a form of a business deal. IN June 1998, Google had made a partnership with Yahoo! to become their default search provider. In October 2001, Google partnered with UOL (Universo Online) which makes Google the major search service for Latin Americans. In May 2002, Google had a major partnership with AOL to offer Google search and sponsored links using Compuserve, Netsacape and AOL.com. Also, Google made a partnership with Salesforce.com, combining that company's on-demand CRM applications with AdWords.

GOOGLE’S COMPETITIVENESS

It is said that Google’s competitive advantages is surprise.

Google’s success can be seen in different partnerships in the other internet business and the acquisition of the different companies which bring forth the different services Google has offered through the years.

Google acquire Pyra Labs, the creators of Blogger. They also obtain Applied Semantics, sustain the service named AdSense. The company also get Keyhole, a digital mapping company whose technology will later become Google Earth.Urchin, a web analytics company whose technology is used to create Google Analytics. They also had the acquisition of dMarc, a digital radio advertising company. Also, is the acquisition of Writely, a web-based word processing application that subsequently becomes the basis for Google Docs. Google also acquired the famous video streaming company, YouTube.
It also gets JotSpot, a collaborative wiki platform, which later becomes Google Sites
Google completed acquisition deal for DoubleClick.

Aside from the different acquisitions, Google has also dealt with various partnerships. Some are those with the greatest competitors as mentioned earlier and some with no competing parties such as with publishers to digitize millions of magazine articles and make them readily available on Google Book Search and in-kind organizations. The company has also dealt with Google Ventures: a venture capital fund aimed at using our resources to support innovation and encourage promising new technology companies


Another thing that proves Google as a competitive internet business is that Google scores well in the U.S. government’s machine translation evaluation. Google’s prominence shone even in dictionary as The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) adds "Google" as a verb.


GOOGLE’S UNIQUENESS

Google is considered unique for various factors. Google has a very humble beginning and hitherto, its humility is seen in parallel with their success. No matter how distant Google's business model grows from its origins, the root remains providing useful and relevant information to those who are the most important part of the ecosystem, the people who needs information..

They stand in their focus in quietly building a better search engine when great competing venture capital firms spent millions to “build brands.”

“Search” is the word for google. “Perfect search engine” is its target description. Larry Page said “understands exactly what you mean and gives back exactly what you want.”

They persistently pursued on Innovation and refused on the limitations of the existing models.

Google has the PageRank Technology and Hypertext-Matching Analysis for the better quality of their search engine. These technologies are what others are trying to imitate.

Google chose to ignore conventional wisdom in designing its business. Google grow, and so business bloom especially when its managers identified two initial opportunities for generating revenue: search services and advertising.

Google continues to think about ways in which technology can improve upon existing ways of doing business.

Google still maintain a small company feel. Commitment to innovation depends on everyone being comfortable sharing ideas and opinions. Every employee is a hands-on contributor, and everyone wears several hats. Because they believe that each Googler is an equally important part of their success, no one hesitates to pose questions directly to Larry or Sergey in our weekly all-hands ("TGIF") meetings.

They are comprehensive in hiring, they favor ability over experience. As we continue to grow, we are always looking for those who share a commitment to creating search perfection and having a great time doing it.




GOOGLE’S DEVELOPMENT

The time started for Google was in 1995 when the two founders met. But it officially was transacting its business in 1998. Along the ways of development, new areas are identified and new services are offered. Here are some of the services Google Inc. has offered across time.

SERVICES:

• Google Toolbar - a browser plug-in that makes it possible to search without visiting the Google homepage
• (2002) Google Search Appliance- hardware that businesses can plug into their computer network to enable search capabilities for their own documents
• (2002) Froogle (later called Google Product Search)- enables to search stuff to buy
• (2003) Google Grants- in-kind advertising program for nonprofit organizations to run in-kind ad campaigns for their cause
• (2003) Google Print (later called Google Book Search) - indexes small excerpts from books to appear in search results.
• (2004) Google Local-offers relevant neighborhood business listings, maps, and directions
• (2004) Googlunaplex-research facility on the Moon.
• (2004) Google SMS (short message service) – sends your text search queries to GOOGL or 466453 on your mobile device.
• (2004) Google Desktop Search - searches for files and documents stored on your hard drive using Google technology.
• (2004) Google Scholar- a free service for searching scholarly literature
• (2005) code.google.com- place for developer-oriented resources
• (2005) My Search History in Labs-allows you to view all the web pages you've visited and Google searches you've made over time
• (2005) Site Targeting- an AdWords feature giving advertisers the ability to better target their ads to specific content sites
• (2005) Blogger Mobile
• (2005) Personalized Homepage (now iGoogle)-for people to customize their own Google homepage
• (2005) Google Mobile Web Search
• (2005) Google Earth: a satellite imagery-based mapping service combining 3D buildings and terrain with mapping capabilities and Google search
• (2005) API for Maps- developers can embed Google Maps on many kinds of mapping services and sites
• (2005) Google Talk- a downloadable Windows application that enables you to talk or IM with friends quickly and easily
• (2005) Google Reader- for feed aficionados
• (2006) Google Calendar
• Google Trends-a way to visualize the popularity of searches over time
• Picasa Web Albums- allows you to upload and share your photos online
• Google Checkout- way to pay for online purchases
• Google Book Search begins offering free PDF downloads of books in the public domain
• Google News
• Google Custom Search Engine – gives bloggers and website owners the ability to create a search engine tailored to their own interests
• Gmail to everyone
• Gmail Paper Archive and TiSP (Toilet Internet Service Provider)
• RechargeIT- green intiative aimed at accelerating the adoption of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles
• Google Earth Outreach- help nonprofit organizations use Google Earth to advocate their causes
• Presently- a new application for making slide presentations, to Google Docs
• OpenSocial - set of common APIs for developers to build applications for social networks
• Android- the first open platform for mobile devices, and a collaboration with other companies in the Open Handset Alliance
• Sites enables you to create collaborative websites with embedded videos, documents, and calendars
• FriendConnect-set of functions and applications enabling website owners to easily make their sites social by adding registration, invitations, members gallery, message
• Google Health – allows people to safely and securely collect, store, and manage their medical records and health information online
• Google Blog
• Gmail Labs- set of experimental Gmail features, including saved searches and different kinds of stars, which let you customize your Gmail experience
• Our first downloadable iPhone app, featuring My Location and word suggestions for quicker mobile searching, debuts with the launch of the Apple 3G iPhone
• Google Suggest -feature on Google.com; helps in formulating queries, reduce spelling errors, and reduce keystrokes
• Android Software Developer Kit
• Google Earth for the iPhone and iPod touch, complete with photos, geo-located Wikipedia articles, and the ability to tilt your phone to view 3D terrain
• SearchWiki- a way for you to customize your own search experience by re-ranking, deleting, adding, and commenting.
• Measurement Lab (M-Lab),-an open platform that provides tools to test broadband connections
• Google Latitude, a Google Maps for mobile feature and an iGoogle gadget that lets you share your location with friends and see the approximate location of people who have decided to share their location with you
• Google Voice -improves the way you use your phone, with features like voicemail transcription and archive and search of all of your SMS text messages
• iGoogle backdrops
• Sky Map for Android- uses Android phone to help identify stars, constellations and planets
• Google Squared, a new experiment in Labs intended for certain kinds of complex search queries, collects facts from the web and presents them in an organized collection, similar to a spreadsheet
• The Google Translator Toolkit-set of editing tools that helps people translate and publish work in other languages faster and at a higher quality
• Google Chrome OS- an open source, lightweight operating system initially targeted at netbooks
• Moon in Google Earth -features lunar imagery, information about the Apollo landing sites, panoramic images shot by the Apollo astronauts and narrated tours.


I.T. AS AN ADVANTAGE


Information is so that Google found it as an opportunity. As the name suggests, It has managed to obtain its mission: to have Information be accessible and useful worldwide.

Google is an internet business and it is very evident how they use Information Technology as its advantage. Primarily, Google has the goal to have “Perfect Search Engine”. Search is how Google started its venture and is still the focus of the company today. That is why they are creating new ways to improve the search engine over the additional services they offered.

To that end, Google has determinedly pursued innovation and refused to accept the limitations of existing models. As a result, they developed their serving infrastructure and breakthrough PageRank™ technology. The innovation rewarded off in faster response times, greater scalability and lower costs.

PageRank Technology: mirrors the importance of web pages. It considers more than 500 million variables and 2 billion terms. Pages that we believe are important pages receive a higher PageRank and are more likely to appear at the top of the search results. It also considers the importance of each page that casts a vote, as votes from some pages are considered to have greater value, thus giving the linked page greater value.

Hypertext-Matching Analysis: search engine also analyzes page content.
The technology analyzes the full content of a page and factors in fonts, subdivisions and the precise location of each word. We also analyze the content of neighboring web pages to ensure the results returned are the most relevant to a user's query.

Google has viewed innovation as not limited to desktops. Thus, they develop new mobile applications and services that are more accessible and customizable.

Reference:


http://www.google.com/corporate/