Info: Is Google going down?

Hello all,

I just had the urgency to write this post since lately Google is somewhat struggling and I was wondering what happens next?

Well, I created a search engine, so I am not to much in favor of Google since it was Google that sucked so bad during a search that I just had to do it myself. I am not there yet and of course I am not a competitor to Google since I am just a one man show but when you look at Internet history, you can see that there are always changes and that those changes are radical.

Googles only income is still from AdWords only. There is no other source yet and, please, do not believe that mobile advertisement or M-Commerce will do the trick or do you really think you look on an ad while using the cell phone?!? Also, users will have forgotten about the ad in seconds since using the cell phone is usually when you are out and thus it will not stick. M-Commerce is another bull shit idea. Many years back Siemens said in Munich (I used to work for them) that M-Commerce is the next big thing. Well, I don’t think so or do you think on buying a book through your cell phone while standing in the book store?!?

So, to coming back to Google and looking at history, many big names went down hill again after being on top of their game. Look at Altavista, while it was the search engine at that time, nobody really knows them any more. Or, a much better example is AOL. Once the richest company in the world it is just a dust holder for Time Warner and worth nothing. Lately we can see Yahoo! having problems but once Yahoo! was worth more than Google is right now (3 Jan 2000) and, to be honest, I think that Yahoo! should still be worth more than Google. Why?

Well, Yahoo! has information, content, design and features, Google does have …..search and nothing really! All the other things Google has, Maps, Mail, Checkout, Blogger…. are not making any money and are not No1 in any community. Checkout is a disaster, Mail is horrible to use, Maps is actually very cool and I also have a Blogger account. There is much more but again, it is not making any money and even Google will have to face the fact that no company can give away stuff for free.

Now, if others come along in search and advertising with a better product, Google might in 3 - 4 years be in the same position as Yahoo! is right now. Why?

Because Google is arrogant and thinks they are the god of the Internet and Search and they do not have to change a bit about it…. well, I hope they don’t!

A comment at Techcrunch noted that Google will see it’s first layoffs in 2009. I totally agree.

Best,

Martin