Google - story so far and the road ahead

Google is one of those things that most of us just can’t live without. At least, I know I can’t. It has become so indispensable in our lives that we find ourselves searching for something in Google every day. With everyone and their mother using Google as their default search engine, the popularity it enjoys is immense. It’s also the reason why Microsoft and Yahoo pale in comparison. So, when Google announced that it will focus on mobile phone market, a lot of people were surprised. I, for one, was surely surprised. I mean, why would a company which enjoys almost a monopoly in online search think of going into mobile phones? But apparently, Google knew what it was doing.

For long, Google has been enjoying the number one spot in online search. Yahoo and Microsoft were the contenders but ‘so close, yet so far’ was their case. But Google was wary of its competitors, especially Microsoft. Given Microsoft’s reputation to buy companies, a deal with Yahoo was almost on the cards. Steve Ballmer apparently told Yahoo board that together, they can be a great threat to the dominancy of Google and topple it easily. But the deal has not happened and Google, as of now, is still the number one. But for how long was the question. In order to sustain its position in the market, Google had to prove that it was not a ‘one product’ company. The solution came in the form of mobile web.

Why mobile web? It’s simple arithmetic. There are more than 3 billion mobile phones in the world. In just about a couple of years from now, there will be 4 billion mobile users in the world. In other words, there will be three mobile phones for every PC in this world. And to add to this, mobile camera, MMS, mobile internet, mobile video, mobile audio, and GPS – features which were considered luxury once – have become so common these days that we see these features in almost every other phone. What this means to advertisers around the world is that they have a new channel for advertising – the mobile phone.

Mobile advertising, as they say, is the next big thing and there’s billions to be made in the industry which is still in its nascent stage. We hardly go out without our mobile phones. We attend every call and read every text message we get. So, an advertisement in a mobile phone is sure to get noticed. Especially, if you can send targeted ads to people, it will have a bigger impact than traditional advertising. Add this to the fact that Google specializes in targeted advertising. The answer is simple – Google planned to enter the mobile advertising territory big time.

Out came Google Android. A platform which can probably make Google as big a name in the mobile web as it is in online search. But Google knows that this will not be a smooth ride. It will have to struggle considerably to cope with Yahoo, iPhones, Windows Live Mobiles, Blackberries, and more. But competition is something that brings the best out of everyone. Let’s just hope that this competition brings the best out of every big player out there in the market and ultimately benefits us – the end users.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Google, All things mobile phones.

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