If Google were a galactic Star Trek empire they would be the Borg.
Not because of their pursuit of technology or the fact that they assimilate companies (or even whole industries), but rather due to Google’s unique ability to fight against rivals upon multiple fronts without losing strength.
Compare and contrast that with Microsoft who fights (or rather defends) multiple fronts and yet is losing upon most of them.
How is it that Google is able to secure the gold, silver or bronze in most arenas that they compete in while Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, etcetera have to focus just to stay ahead?
Perhaps the reason is that like the Borg, Google is persistent and (most importantly) enjoys failing forward in order to achieve their ultimate goal: to organize all the worlds information and make it useful to…them.
Take social networking for example.
Google launched a website called Orkut many geek eons ago which (at best) was a failure outside of India and Brazil.
Despite Google’s attempts (or lack thereof) to revive Orkut, the phenomenon known as Facebook swept the world and made Orkut obsolete in not only India and Brazil, but in every other country as well.
Google in typical fashion panicked, rushed out Google Buzz and Google Wave only to watch them both implode, respectively.
Note: Excuse my Caprican but can someone tell me what the frak was Google Wave?
Learning from their past failures and seizing upon the drama surrounding Facebook’s confusing privacy settings, Google launched Google+ which is poised to steal Twitter’s silver crown in 2013 or 2014.
Note: Google+ currently boasts north of 190 million active users, not the 343 million cited by “analysts.”
Despite public failures Google didn’t give up on dominating the socialverse and now is in a position to threaten everyone but Facebook (at least for now).
Compare Google’s persistence with Apple and Microsoft who both shuttered Ping and Spaces, respectively, only to never return.
A similar story for Google can be found in other arenas such as:
- mobile: Android struggled against iOS (and Symbian) when it first was released but is now the most popular mobile OS on Earth
- browser: Chrome went from being a niche geek browser to a mainstream option “overnight,” and is now threatening to oust Firefox as the alternative browser behind Internet Explorer
- email: Gmail no longer plays third fiddle to Yahoo or Hotmail/Outlook, as Google now owns the largest email service on Earth (and no, Facebook email doesn’t count due to its limitations)
To sum up everything nicely, Google is winning because they are determined to produce “a better mouse trap” than rivals, are are not afraid to fail along the way in order to secure the gold medal.
Despite Google’s tenacity, they are not invincible as a few companies have already proved (although that is another discussion for another time).
