Founded in 1998, Google runs the world’s most popular Internet search engine. It’s a position that has earned Google huge profits and given it outsize influence over the online world.
But Google’s ambition far exceeds the confines of Internet search and advertising. The company sees its mission as the organization of the world’s information, making it universally accessible and useful.
Google has been testing out new tricks, including display ads and mobile phones, with its Android mobile operating system and acquisition of AdMob, the mobile advertising company. But none of these new businesses are generating significant revenue for the search giant yet.
Google’s unbounded ambition, as well as what many critics say is a cavalier approach to copyrights, has put it at odds with a growing list of companies in industries ranging from Hollywood to book publishing and from telecommunications to e-commerce. And the company’s appetite for collecting vast amounts of data about its users and their online habits has prompted increasing fears that Google could become a threat to consumer privacy.
The company also found itself at the heart of a debate over net neutrality, the principle that the Internet should be a level playing field, with all applications and services treated equally. Many proponents had seen Google as their chief corporate supporter. But in August 2010 Google stunned many of its allies by crossing the aisle and teaming up with Verizon Communications to propose that net neutrality rules should not apply to wireless access and to outline rules for the wired Internet that critics say are riddled with loopholes.
The company continues to dominate in its core business, search advertising, which accounts for more than 90 percent of its revenue. But Google faces fierce competition from social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Facebook wants to turn scores of sites across the Internet into satellites where users will be able to interact with their Facebook friends. And Twitter is also looking to expand its presence across the Web with its @anywhere service, which will allow people to log in to Twitter from other Web sites.
Google also faces new competition from Microsoft’s Bing. Bing still handles a small slice of Web searches in the United States, 12.7 percent, compared with Google’s 62.6 percent. But Bing’s share has been growing, as has Yahoo’s, while Google’s has been shrinking.
And while no one argues that Google’s dominance is in immediate jeopardy, Google is watching Microsoft closely, mimicking some of Bing’s innovations — like its travel search engine, its ability to tie more tools to social networking sites and its image search — or buying start-ups to help it do so in the future. As the search engines introduce feature after competing feature, some analysts say they have set off an arms race, with the companies poised to spend whatever it takes to win the second phase of Web search.
Company Information
Google Inc. maintains an index of Websites and other online content, and makes this information freely available through its search engine to anyone with an Internet connection. Its automated search technology helps people obtain nearly instant access to relevant information from its online index. It generates revenue primarily by delivering online advertising. Businesses use its AdWords program to promote their products and services with targeted advertising. In addition, the thousands of third-party Websites that comprise the Google Network use its AdSense program to deliver relevant ads that generate revenue and enhance the user experience. In September 2009, the Company acquired ReCAPTCHA Inc., a spin-off of Carnegie Mellon University’s Computer Science Department. In February 2010, it acquired Aardvark. In February 2010, it acquired On2 Technologies, Inc. In August 2010, it acquired Slide, a social technology company. In August 2010, it acquired Angstro.
Google Inc.
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