Google trying to be all things to all people

[frahse]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Exactly.
Those moonshots (Google glass, for one) tend to be risky but they come with the potential to open entirely new markets and are *exactly* the kind of stuff a cash flush company *should* invest in. But it requires sticking with the effort, not giving up after a year or two.

Creating new markets can be pricey but the payoff is you get to *own* that market for as long as you outrun the inevitable me-too followers (c.f., Palm) but you can make more money and build up brand equity instead of friterring it on the tenth photo hosting or RSS reader app on the market.

Wave was risky, it was innovative, and it offered a way to move creative work online. Instead of working to show this, Google just killed it. Now Microsoft is coming in and looking to fill the same niche with Office 365. Not as ambitious, not as innovative, but since it's Microsoft's biggest cash cow, they're not likely to drop it and leave its users high and dry.

Or Glass:

http://www.cnet.com/news/google-glas...in-the-shower/

Again, ambitious. Needed support and reworking.
Instead, Google lost interest and moved on.
(Microsoft, which has been working on Hololens since before Glass was launched is still building it up slowly, focusing on specific uses and markets. A long shot but one that might hit.)

Now Google is promoting Android payment to compete with Apple and VISA and Amazon... Wouldn't surprise me if they did get into banking.

And while they run around all over the place, more focused competitors are quietly creating new markets all around them in home automation, wearables, internet of things...

Suppose Microsoft had kept up with it's original Tablet? The one Steve Jobs hated.

[Teknikal]

On more than one occasion the first time I read about a Google service is actually when a sites reporting they are scrapping it. I don't think their a good company anymore their search is a lot worse than it used to be (you can't even use search variables anymore and it's all paid results instead of relevant ones).

The one thing I do like is Android but if I'm honest I'd prefer it without Googles apps loaded onto it as I tend to just disable them for being battery hogs anyway and many of them are just pointless.

I think a new search companies going to pop up and financially wreck them in the next few years.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by Teknikal

I think a new search companies going to pop up and financially wreck them in the next few years.

Which is exactly why they need to diversify.

Graham

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

The quotes represent what the article says. There's no cherry picking here.

And the key point of the article is that all the spending isn't resulting in new businesses or reducing their dependence on desktop ads.

Android hasn't resulted in new business? Chrome (and Chrome OS) hasn't resulted in new business? At any rate, I don't care. I like the fact that Google is at least trying to get into new markets. They'll probably have a few hits and lots of misses, but (as you say elsewhere) "they have lots of money," I think this is the time for them to take chances.

Google has apparently abandoned Google+


I would welcome another serious player in the US broadband market though.

As Merger Mania Rises, Cable And Broadband Customer Satisfaction Worse Than Ever

[ApK]

I'm not against Google's diversification in principle. Amazon's been doing the same thing, and as a consumer, it's been great.
But Google has been making bad decisions. They have been making anti-user decisions, and they have been eroding the trust I've had in them. That's double plus ungood for a company who's lifeblood is people trusting them with their data.
Apparently all this is directly traceable to that switch-flip mentioned in the OP.

ApK