Would you give up Google just because of its power?

Posted Mar 20th 2007 9:56AM by Brian White
Filed under: Products and Services, Consumer Experience, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO)

With much of the 2000-2010 decade gone (yeah, only a few years left), it seems that Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has risen during this time from humble web search beginnings to become a media and advertising powerhouse. Many competitors have been around longer, but none had the unrivaled success Google has had in the last six years. Why?

It's simple -- Google made a money-making product that customers like to use and never once lost focus of who it needs to serve: the customer (not the advertiser).

With that, it's not hard to see why Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) have not made any gains against the web search juggernaut. Now, in a frenzied game of playing catch-up, competitors are on the defensive. Valleywag says Yahoo! and Ask.com have hired a marketing firm to run a website telling customers to "Stop The Online Information Monopoly." It appears that both companies (and probably others) have given up trying to fight Google with a superior product and superior consumer experience and instead are resorting to scare tactics to give attention to themselves. This looks to be standard operating procedure in the tech industry of course, where innovation, or the lack thereof, can grow a company or kill it.

I still wonder though -- with Google's immense popularity and brand power, does the company command too much power? I, for one, don't use Google all the time (Ask.com and Yahoo! are both used as well). The thing is, despite my efforts, I generally do find more relevant results with Google -- so I use it more. Too much power or simply a better product?

Via Techdirt.

Tags: ask.com, GOOG, Google, Google, Inc., Google,Inc., msft, yhoo

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

3-20-2007 @ 11:03AM

Linda said...

It's not a monopoly if you have the free will to use another search engine. I think people are just jealous of Google's success--get over it!!!!!!!!!!!

3-20-2007 @ 10:40AM

Linda said...

It's not a monopoly if you have the free will to use another search engine. I think people are just jealous of Google's success--get over it!!!!!!!!!!!

3-21-2007 @ 4:50PM

Lee said...

Google has an excellent product. They don't have a monopoly. They have a very large market share that correlates with the quality of their product. If Yahoo goes ahead with that negative campaign, I will stop using Yahoo altogether. For free market to work, there must be open competition. Instead of picking on Google, whose products work very well, let's question the monopolistic practices of Microsoft, whose products don't work well at all. Are you enjoying your Windows Me yet? Ever get it fixed? How about Vista? Is your Vista working well with your peripherals and your business software (like Quickbooks)? Gotten any decent support help from Microsoft lately? Ever? The only reason Microsoft is still in business is that you don't get to choose. It comes pre-installed on your computer. When consumers have a choice, they choose quality.

Go google!

3-20-2007 @ 6:44PM

Thomas Jowers said...

I personally use google, msn, yahoo, and seekerbug.com, I think that the reason google has become so huge is that they have the revenue sharing program, yeah they do 50% of online searches but how many from the homepage? Not affiliate sites? If MSN or yahoo role out a better revenue sharing program that pays higher commission, you could see a considerable swing in search market share! ( i know yahoo already has a revenue sharing program but it is harder to get into, i have used both, google and yahoo's programs!)

Use the smaller search engines, show the big guys that we are the customers, we decide who gets our commodity!

3-20-2007 @ 11:47AM

Rick Hanley said...

Good, arrogant company. Worth 15 times sales? Would you pay 100,000 for a Jetta?

3-20-2007 @ 11:26AM

Rick Hanley said...

Yahoo introduced on Monday a new Internet search system for mobile phone users that delivers locally relevant answers, a move that vaults it ahead of what rival Google now offers.

http://news.com.com/Yahoo+jumps+ahead+of+Google+on+mobile+search/2100-1039_3-6168745.html?tag=nefd.top