Google's strategy: no need for instant marketshare, yet

Is Google's strategy working for the long-term? It better be, as it is hard to imaging search advertising carrying the Internet juggernaut forever. Is Google having to search harder for success these days with all the recent product launches? You bet it is -- and it's something I've written on before as I try to figure out where Google is going beyond its search business.

Google seems to throw out products without a real release strategy other than "early and often" as Marissa Mayer would say. That's not a bad strategy, and it wreaks of innovation, speed and flexibility. This is a good thing for Google overall. But when does the search giant turn these "early and often" products into revenue-generating winners? Slowly but surely in many cases (Google Gmail and Google Finance), and quickly and efficiently in others (Google News and Google Earth).

There are many opinions in the industry that say Google's entry into so many areas so fast will not kill off entrenched incumbents. To a large degree, I agree here. Google Finance has not killed Yahoo! Finance, Google Gmail has not killed Yahoo! Mail (although I think it's a superior product) and Google Maps has not killed AOL's Mapquest.

Will all these products trump the competition in time? Hard to say, really. Google says, "anyone who only cares solely about marketshare -- that would be folly."  Yes, but I still wonder, how can it attract more customers and, importantly, revenue outside Internet search? What do you think?