Could Google (GOOG) ever be beaten at search?

Just the sentence "Google will soon be irrelevant" is sure to set off a firestorm of conversation and arguments. The company's death grip on the information most of us rely on daily to function in the internet age is well-known, and Google, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) brand has managed to infiltrate so many areas so quickly it's mind-boggling. But, the company's inability to adapt quickly to the soaring popularity of social search (think Facebook and Mahalo, a new 'human-powered' search engine) may be its popularity downfall, according to well-known blogger Robert Scoble.

Will Google's automatically-generated search results and website indexing practices be overtaken by the ability of real people to produce similar chunks of information that are more personally relevant? It's hard to imagine that happening any time soon due to Google's enormous popularity and usage from billions of web surfers every year. Just like any commodity, customers eventually prefer more customized and personalized result, and web usage will be no different. But make no mistake -- Google is working feverishly to ensure its bread-n-butter search engine becomes as personally attached to each Google customer as possible. Is that enough?

Scoble does put forth an interesting question: what is the future of search? Will it be using a mobile phone or PC to find things we're looking for in the most local and personal way possible by means of highly relevant search results? That would be the easy answer based on the natural evolution of the way many of us use internet search today. That doesn't make it guaranteed, though -- and whoever discovers the "next version of search" could indeed threaten Google. Then again, Google's brand will be incredibly hard to dethrone, just like any entrenched household name.