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Google Flatlining in Search Just Means it Needs a New Platform

Posted on 12. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey in Features

It would seem problematic to many that Google is unable to sustain growth in the search market. Unfortunately, with the emergence of Microsoft’s Bing, that now is the case. But this is not something that the folks in Mountain View did not see coming: they have been working away for quite some time now on providing more incentives to use the Google platform, and this chart is proof of that now more than ever:

The Silicon Alley Insider has used this chart as the centerpiece for their post, “Big Bad News for Google: Search Share Gains Have Flatlined“. However, looking at this chart it doesn’t appear that Google Search has been on a growth tear in terms of market share for the past couple of years. Therefore, what this chart fails (understandably) to take into account is the growth in the mobile market as well as the ongoing expansion of internet users.

Plus, Google has been working on this issue for years, most likely realizing that there is going to be a limit that they reach in terms of market share. In a free market world, no one is going to have complete control of any business niche since there will always be competition. Plus, I’m not sure anyone really wants to see Google have complete control since once a company has that ability they could use their power to push around other would-be competitors.

The way around this for them is to expand their bevy of applications into their own platform. This has just begun with Android, and as the recent New York Times article out about early adopters who have taken an interest in Chrome OS before any commercial product is available shows that a platform outside of smartphones has some likelihood of being viable.

Tags: Bing, Chrome OS, Google Search, Microsoft, search engine market share, Sillicon Alley Insider