If Google is about search then they are a winner. If they are about their other services then… no.
Take a look at the numbers in the chart from Hitwise. You’ll see that Google’s traffic is squarely centered on search and that Google’s new fangled puppies like Gmail, maps and toolbar, to name a few, are performing poorly.
Yes, Google is doing just fine. But they have cadres of engineers working on the new things. I think what they maybe missing at HQ are a couple of marketers and a bit of marketing. If I was a share holder, I would be starting to ask… wuz up?
August 22nd, 2006 at 8:40 pm
some marketers may help, and I think something they should really look into is getting to know their users. When they started with the Google Pack i thought it signaled a trip down the wrong path. a bundle of software, that may all be a good idea, but people don’t really like bundles of software like this. We’ve been taught not to by computer manufacturers and the crap they install on new machines and also by malware.
Gmail is another basically good service with enough small problems to make it maddening. Mostly the fact that it is SOOO SLOW. There was all this hype about it but most everyone had to wait for it due to their invitation-only roll-out. And since it wasnt great once available to everyone, it suffered.
They need to figure out what they want to be and be the best at it. They are already there with search.
August 23rd, 2006 at 6:12 pm
Pedro,
In a moment of Trekkie madness back in May, I called this Google’s Nimoy Syndrom:
http://www.i-boy.com/weblog/2006/05/googles-nimoy-syndrome.html
Yahoo!’s numbers are looking a bit better, and Fred Wilson is bullish:
http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2006/08/yahoo_gains_sha.html
Ps: I’m off to Germany, then Spain, and will email you when I’m back in London in early September.
~G~