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Why Google Releases New Apps: They're Desperate for Content

Written by Guest Author / March 11, 2010 2:00 PM / 13 Comments

goggle logosIt seems like in the past few months Google has relentlessly released new applications, some of which perhaps could have used some more baking in the oven before they were unleashed on the general public. To some it's becoming a tiresome exercise simply to try to keep up with everything that Google is doing week in and week out. But there is a method to the madness, and it has a lot more to do with Google's bottom line than you may think.

We all know that the way the search engine giant makes money is through advertising - over $23 billion in 2009 - but what may surprise you is that its advertising-based revenue comes almost exclusively from sites that are owned by Google.

Guest author Daniel Cawrey is a freelance writer and tech enthusiast, among other things. You can check out his latest musings in blog form at thechromesource, where he writes about Chrome browser, Chrome OS and just plain Google in general.

Take a look at this graph from the Silicon Valley Insider that depicts the location of advertising and the dollars associated with it:

Ever increasingly, Google is relying on itself to make money through its own real estate - places where it can position the ads that advertisers purchase. This is a concern for publishers that rely on Google for revenue through Adsense because there has to be a point at which this is no longer a profitable exercise for the company.

If it reaches that point, Google will essentially be subsidizing publishers. And it may not have a choice but to keep doing so. Because without fresh content creation, what is there for users to search for on the Internet that is of value? The main tenet of the search business is to provide quality results, and while that may be the case now, if publisher's Adsense revenues were affected, one can wonder what kind of effect that would have on content.

So although Google may have made some mistakes with applications like Buzz, along with the half-hearted emergence and now slow death of features like Gears, expect them to continue to increasing space for content to grow, even if that means one of several strategies:

Become an ISP

An experimental program has been announced whereby Google will provide gigabit service via fiber directly to homes in select markets. Interested municipalities and community organizations are encouraged to submit a proposal for this right. At the World Mobile Congress, CEO Eric Schmidt talked about the goal of this program being purely experimental, which means showing infrastructure operators such as cable companies that this is possible, rather than Google becoming a full fledged ISP. But once the fiber has been rolled out, it doesn't roll back in, does it? How long does the "experiment" last?

Trounce the Competition in the Browser Wars

Google's Chrome browser is getting a lucky break over the next few weeks. That's because Windows users in Europe who use Internet Explorer will be getting an update to their machines notifying them about browser choices that they have. This is in response to the European Union's ruling that Microsoft's practice of bundling Internet Explorer with Windows restricts competition. While the update offers many browser choices, the result will be a boost to market share for Chrome. It has steadily grown in popularity and already has roughly 5% of the market since emerging in 2008.

Offer Computing Architecture to Device Manufacturers Completely Free

We've seen this already with Android, and it appears that the no-cost operating system has basically saved Motorola from a fall to obscurity with its release of the Droid. Expect to see more of these developments as 2010 unfolds with Chrome OS attempting to break into not only the netbook market, but also tablets and smartbooks, which fill the gap between a high end mobile phone and a netbook.

So when you hear these new announcements of applications and services that Google rolls out, think of content. Think of how they can better deliver information to users. They want it to be as easy and as seamless as possible. While sometimes these initiatives don't always work out, they aren't going to stop trying.



Comments

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  1. When you are a giant, you can have the luxury of improving yourself through trial and error. That's what Google always did and it worked fine so far. If a new technology will fail ... so what, another one will not.

    Posted by: Σχολή Χορού | March 11, 2010 2:09 PM



  2. It's worth noting that Gears, which incidentally isn't a product that would have generated ad revenue, and was canned in favour of HTML5.

    Google wrote Gears to fill a gap in browser technology, and that gap is now being filled by a new standard.

    Posted by: David Caunt | March 11, 2010 4:18 PM



  3. Does this mean the dozens of Google ads on millions of blogs are mostly non-payers? The graph makes it look like only 1 billion of the 18 billion is received through the millions of blogs and websites, and so my guess is the bulk of that 1 billion would not be from blogs but from major non-Google websites.

    Posted by: Brian | March 11, 2010 7:57 PM



  4. Suicide is painless ?

    The game of life is hard to play
    I'm gonna to lose it anyway
    The losing card I'll someday lay
    So this is all I have to say

    It must be hard for Google to see that a new arrival to the market like Twitter has generated so much new content.

    Posted by: alan green | March 12, 2010 12:47 AM



  5. Becoz reason is behind that there so many competitor(Rival) in the market.

    Posted by: Ilan Ben Menachem | March 12, 2010 4:58 AM



  6. This pictures say more than 1000 words!!

    Posted by: Stuff | March 12, 2010 7:15 AM



  7. I think it's not that surprising that most of google's revenue comes from their own pages - the simple google page is probably one of the (if not THE)most visited sites on the web. If to that we add that on a google page, people are LOOKING for something (where an ad may be more relevant) and on other (say, blog pages) people are READING content - they already found what they were looking for - then the odds that people will click on Adsense ads on a google page is probably much higher than on any blog.

    Posted by: Arthur | March 12, 2010 7:41 AM



  8. This post makes no sense. Why would Google be desperate for new content when they are already making lots of money off the content they have? More content would be nice, but I don't see how they are desperate for it. Second, I suspect that a majority of the ad revenue from Google owned sites is ads hosted on the google search pag. Which if true, would make this post nonsense.

    Posted by: afu | March 12, 2010 8:06 AM



  9. This is evidence that APPS for the PC will out number APPS for the phone. They just need to be more relevant for the PC. Why can I access my bank account faster on my phone than my PC? Because there is an APP for that.

    I am using an APP on my PC that makes using the computer much faster. I can SMS, email, make a phone call, find a map, file, website, search a website, shorten a URL, anything on the PC faster and easier with just a DOUBLE-RIGHT CLICK OF THE MOUSE. It is game changing technology. ITS FREE. It will no doubt be the place I go to store all my APPS. Go to http://smi.sh or email me at appszilla@gmail.com to get a beta copy.

    Posted by: MS | March 12, 2010 8:57 AM



  10. In my opinion, Google is moving faster than others now. Its domination on search engine service cannot be replaced by anyone in this short future. Hopefully we can really get benefit from the progression of it.

    Posted by: KS Chen | March 12, 2010 2:57 PM



  11. This pictures say more than 1000 words!!

    Posted by: Ilan Ben Menachem | March 25, 2010 10:07 PM



  12. Finally someone gets it! Google needs content to get people to search for, and Google needs to ensure that when people search they are searching via google. Hence Android, Chrome....blah,blah,blah

    Posted by: Colin | April 10, 2010 3:16 PM



  13. This is evidence that APPS for the PC will out number APPS for the phone. They just need to be more relevant for the PC. Why can I access my bank account faster on my phone than my PC? Because there is an APP for that.

    Posted by: دردشة | June 27, 2010 12:40 PM



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