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I came across an interesting article on Baidu.com, the dominant search engine in the PRC. Focused on their market dominance versus Google, who seem to still be struggling with strategy for growth (and particularly in administration) in China, the article provides some insight into how this company has succeeded, and where their recent past and current focuses lie.
An excerpt: “‘Once Baidu went public, they invested in brand advertising, something that Google has just been arrogant in their reluctance in a growing market to invest in any kind of advertising to increase their brand awareness,’ explained Harrington. ‘Baidu went into all the smaller cities and put up billboards, bus ads, and even commercials.”‘
Internet proliferation and usage differs across the world, and the online experience varies widely based on cultural factors, government and other regulatory decisions, and commercial forces. In the U.S., we see a handful of companies branching out into new technologies and usages umbrella-style, for example, growing from a search-based model to include media technologies, social networking tools, communications functions, and even platform and user interface technologies. We also see companies that were formerly communications (email) based wrap their arms around “Web 2.0″ features and strategies in order to stay relevant. Baidu is doing some of this too, certainly aware of leading trends in the U.S., however they are acting in strategic consideration of limitations related to Chinese government restrictions. The thing to keep in mind is that the Internet evolves in different ways in different parts of the world – our own “user experience” does not necessarily represent that of others.
Check out the article, though. There are some really interesting facts about Internet usage in the PRC.
Slowly but surely, Google has been updating it’s various features to be more and more social. From adding more robust functionality to Google Profiles to adding the Like button to Google Reader, Google is becoming more and more about sharing information with friends and strangers. With Facebook buying Friendfeed this week, Google seems to have decided to fire its next salvo (in addition to boosting its search engine via Caffeine) into the marketplace.
Its not active on all accounts yet, but now you can add social gadgets to your iGoogle page, enabling (for now) you to play games, share todo lists, see what your friends are doing, etc. While in many ways the functionality isn’t all that impressive, it signals yet again that Google is moving away from search being the core of its business. The site is becoming more and more about managing information through one portal and then sharing it with like-minded communities around the world.
What is exciting is how Google is breaking down information and removing the limitations placed on it by form and format. With its advances in communications (via Gmail and the forthcoming Wave), its organizational tools like Reader and Google Docs, and the combination of Maps with content and suggestions (Google City Tours) Google is both presenting us with more information but working toward preventing overload and making it all more useful.
Google has dabbled into quite a few different areas of technology. They began as a search engine and evolved into so much more. They are currently the most popular place to search for information and gMail could be considered the most popular email system. Outside of those two areas Google has also developed a platform for mobile phones known as Android that has been widely successful since its inception.
They are now ready to take it a step further. Last week, Google announced it will be entering the world of computer operating systems. In a world where two O/S (Windows and Mac O/S) dominate the rest, can Google compete? Those two operating systems have dominated the market for many years, but have never been seriously challenged. Can Google create a platform that will be a true threat to the other two?
When it comes to an operating system, stability is the most important benchmark. Everyone wants it to “just work”. Google is going to have a huge mountain to climb in terms of developing a stable platform. The other two competitors have been in the market for years and have been able to tweak their systems to the best of their ability while Google will be starting from scratch. I think it will be a unique experience to be able to explore an new O/S as this opportunity does not come around too often. Google always has a unique twist that it puts on its products, soon enough we’ll see how that is incorporated into Chrome.
It will be interesting to see how this unfolds as Google has been widely successful in almost everything they have ventured into. It seems as if they have been carrying around the Midas Touch in their back pocket. I guess only time will tell how well the Google “Chrome O/S” will do.
Check the link for the official Google press release. Googleblog
So yesterday I wrote about Microsoft’s new venture Bing, in which they’re attempting to scrap past mistakes and push the market leader Google in terms of search. So what does Google do? Today, they announce plans to essentially unify communication on the web in a new product called Google Wave. Why use e-mail when you can have a real time conversation instead? It’s not available to the general public until later this year, but when you consider this and Google Voice, it seems that Google isn’t focused on search, but changing communications and information paradigms.
Instead of just organizing search results like Microsoft and others, Google feels like it’s trying to introduce new ways of creating and using information as well. When you look at the forrays Google is making into the user’s internet experience (from browser to information) and the expectation of nearly 20 Android phones by the end of the year it feels like Google is on the cusp of a change as big as MS-DOS to Windows. Stay tuned, it all looks pretty cool.
So we just had Wolfram|Alpha and its many interesting easter eggs released, now Microsoft is jumping into the game. Bing, Microsoft’s new “decision engine” is scheduled to deploy next week. Again, the idea is to make sense of the information presented, not just list it. While I’ve heard some buzz and excitement about the launch, it will be interesting to see where this pushes the category.
I wonder if in a year whether we’ll be talking about failed experiments at organizing search results or if the paradigm will actually shift, creating a new class of search and categorization. If so, how will the reach of online advertising and optimization impact the information we see?
On a slightly related note, I also tripped across Topsy, a search engine that is focused on the “conversations” taking place on the web. Essentially, it pulls information from Twitter and its ilk to present what others are talking about.
This week, a new search-engine answer-engine called Wolfram|Alpha will go live for the general public. Around the same time Google will be offering some new features via Google Labs. What will these new little boxes with blinking cursors mean for the non-tech geek? Potentially a new way to take the mess of unstructured data across the interwebs and organize it so that its more refined and potentially makes more sense.
I know, a search engine rivalry isn’t that much to get excited about. There isn’t any shiny new piece of hardware available to covet. But what’s interesting is that as the amount of information we create is exploding, the tools necessary to make sense and use this information are seriously lagging. The exciting part is that search engines might actually get better and smarter, making the lives of those who trade in and use information a little easier and/or more interesting.
