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It’s official. Google denies its a monopoly and says the European Commission review findings are inaccurate. Read Google’s official response here.
http://googlepolicyeurope.blogspot.com/2010/11/our-thoughts-on-european-commission.html
Google has quickly become the Microsoft of the tech world. As Google grows bigger and grabs the majority of market share, it’s hard to be considered the “nice guy” just as Microsoft experienced as it dominated the desktop world. Google controls over 65% of all internet searches and claims that ads placed on the Google Display Network reach over 80% of the internet. It’s hard to deny you’re a monopoly when you see numbers like that.
What concerns Google’s competitors is their expansive presence EVERYWHERE. Google doesn’t focus on just dominating the search engine market. They’re into voice over IP (VOIP) telephone service, cellular (Android OS), tablet computers (Android OS again), Google television, and a variety of media outlets so your ads will be displayed everywhere. Google wants to control every possible means of communication so they can display their ads everywhere we go.
Not a bad strategy if I must say so. The problem is Google is creating a lot of great products that they’re giving away for free which makes it hard to compete against them. Google Analytics is a fantastic tool that tells you everything you need to know about your website and web traffic and its free. There are many competitive products that are better than Analytics but most companies don’t need to spend thousands of dollars for a little more functionality. The competitive products can’t compete against a better-than-average product that is free.
Remember, about 95% of Google’s revenue comes from ads. Google’s objective is to make the internet accessible from anywhere by anyone so their ads appear everywhere. Giving away the free tools and services makes you spend more time on the internet so you’ll see their ads more often. The bigger the internet gets, the more money Google makes so it can afford to give away great products and services. That makes it very hard for them to have competitors.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. How can you be a monopoly when almost all of your revenue comes from one source but you’re offering tons of free products and services. Monopoly or not, the bigger Google gets, the harder it will be for them to claim to be the nice guy who’s looking out for your best interest.
