Can Google be All Things to All People on the Web - Episode 1 of 3

Episode one - A Look at What Alphabet (AKA Google) Has to Offer the World

Courtesy of Flickr

By Hector Cisneros

There is no doubt about Google's wide spread internet dominance. Whether it's Search, YouTube, Android OS, AdSense, Google Photos, Gmail or Chrome, the Google product line is broad and impressive. And it's not just software or internet apps; Google is also big in hardware as well. Think of Google driverless cars, Google TV, Chromebook, Chromecast, Pixel Smartphones, Google Glass and its latest competitor for Amazon's Alexa, Google Home. This is just a small percentage of the products and services that Google has to offer. In fact, Google has discontinued almost as many products and services as they currently offer. The point I'm getting at is this. In the near future, everyone will have to make a decision on what digital platform they will be adopting. You will have to choose between Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and possibly Facebook. In episode one (part one of a three-episode series) of Working the Web to Win, we will be exploring the many and most prominent offerings of Alphabet (AKA Google) and how these offerings stand against their competitors. So, sharpen your pencil and start making those check lists as we take a comprehensive look at what Google has to offer our world.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Google has gotten so big that it had to remake itself into a new company called Alphabet, a  new company with many other companies under its umbrella. For example; they have Calico, Capital G, DeepMind, Google, Google Fiber, GV, Jigsaw, Verily, Google X, and Nest Labs.

Under its Google division, you have everything from dozens of software applications, to top tier internet properties. Think of the top applications that dominate the internet landscape. Applications like Google Search, YouTube, AdSense, Google Photos, Gmail, Google G suite, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Hangouts, and Chrome are all at the top of the list. 

But those applications barely scratch the surface of what Alphabet has in its stable. In the hardware arena - Alphabet’s hardware companies (GV, Nest Labs, Google X) is producing Driverless Cars, a Moon shoot, Nexus Tablet, and Smartphones, the New top of the line Pixel Smartphone, Google Glass, Chromecast, Chromebook, Nest Home Control products and Google Home AI Assistant.

New and Interesting Alphabet Developments - Google, now Alphabet, has always been a very innovative company. They are at the forefront of pushing the frontier of technology and human knowledge. Their X project division is working on some of the coolest technologies to advance humankind. Currently they are working on 10 X Projects which include: A moon shot, Smart Contact lenses that measure Glucose levels for better diabetes control, Google Brain,  an AI used for R & D work in artificial intelligence, Google’s self-driving cars, Google’s Drones for Freight Delivery, Project Loon files balloons high in the atmosphere so that it can beam an Internet signal to the ground at cellular speeds and project Makani developing wind turbines to produce sustainable energy.

From Star Trek to Zeitgeist - Astro Teller, Zeitgeist Europe 2013

The Google division alone is so big that it has discontinued more tech products than most other tech companies have ever produced. Here’s a partial list of the 40+ products that have been dropped, discontinued or replaced with new offerings, courtesy of Wikipedia.  

A. Aardvark (search engine), Google Answers -  B. Google Base, BebaPay, Google Building Maker, Google Buzz - C. Google Code Search

- D. Google Dictionary - F. Google Fast Flip, Google Friend Connect - G. GOOG-411, Google Blog Search, Google Flu Trends, Google Latitude, Google Offers, Google Questions and Answers, Google Video - H. Google Health - I. IGoogle, Google Image Labeler, Google Image Swirl - K. Knol - L. Google Labs, Google Lively - M. Google Mashup Editor, Meebo - N. Google Notebook - O. Orkut - P. Google Page Creator, Picnik - R. Google Reader - S. San Francisco Digital Inclusion Strategy, San Francisco Municipal Wireless, Google Schemer, Google Script Converter, Google SearchWiki, Google Sidewiki, Google Squared - T. Timeful - U. Urchin (software) - W. Apache Wave

A Rapid Change in Time Doesn't Save Nine - To be fair to Google, it has replaced or upgraded and renamed most of these products. The ones that were retired are because they became obsolete or e new and better product came out and replaced it. Some of the products that have been mothballed are kept partially live while Google redirects you to the

Courtesy of Flickr

newer product. Many of the studies and articles I read stated that most of us hate change for many reasons. Nevertheless, it still amazes me to see how big companies tend to ignore the fact that 80% of the population hates change, especial change without lots of warning (like a 3-year phase out). Microsoft has been good about this. They announce three years in advance that a product’s support is being canceled so that users can plan their adjustment. When Google makes rapid changes to its product line without adequate warning, it builds resentment among the vast majority of its users. I know I have felt this with products like Google Buzz, Google Dictionary, IGoogle, Google Reader, Picasa and now with the recent changes it made to Chrome. This is especially true if I clicked on the product and was surprised to find it gone, replaced or totally rearranged with something I didn’t expect. An interesting article that has a great infographic showing more details of the retired products I mention is called: “Google Products Graveyard: Mourning Google Reader and Other Discontinued Google Products and Services,” check it out.

In my opinion, Google is looking to advance humankind on many fronts.

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

They need to be profitable to do this. In many instances, they have been successful which is why they are one of the biggest and most visionary companies the world has ever seen. By the same token, being large and needing to produce profits, the company needs to stay focused on delivering value to the world. Google must stay focused on the value-added formula they have, not just paying attention to bean counters telling them how to save money or to increase profits by offering less value and increasing fees.  Google Manifesto reads;

Google’s Philosophy and Core Principles

1. Focus on the user and all else will follow.
2. It’s best to do one thing really, really well.
3. Fast is better than slow.
4. Democracy on the web works.
5. You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer.
6. You can make money without doing evil.
7. There’s always more information out there.
8. The need for information crosses all borders.
9. You can be serious without a suit.
10. Great just isn’t good enough.

As long as Google stick to its manifesto, it will be the dominant player on the World Wide Web. If it deviates from any of these principles, it will lose faith with its users and another company will leap forward and take its place.

That's my opinion; I look forward to reading yours.

I recommend reading the articles listed on our Show Notes Page, the articles linked in this blog and these articles that talk about Google and Alphabet: 

·         Here are all the companies and divisions within Alphabet, Google's parent company,

·         All of Google’s—er, Alphabet’s—companies and products from A to Z

·         The A to Z list of brands, companies Google's Alphabet owns

·         https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphabet_Inc.

This article is episode 1 of a 3 part series on Alphabet (AKA Google), and how its goal is to be the dominant global company, providing all things to all people. It discusses its wide array of offerings, many of the exciting new products and even the large number of retired offerings. Included for the reader are details about many of these divisions and product lines along with many links to other articles and resources to help them understand Google place in the universe.

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If you found this article useful, please share it with friends, family, and co-workers. I recommend checking out the links in the blog, along with checking out other related articles on our Show Notes Page.  Don’t forget to listen to the BlogTalkRadioshow on this subject.  If you have a related useful comment or opinion about to this article, leave it in the comment section of this blog.  Also, don’t forget to plus us, on Google+ and share us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn as well.

Hector Cisneros is COO and Director of Social Media Marketing at Working the Web to Win, an award-winning Internet marketing company based in Jacksonville, Florida.  He is also co-host of the weekly Internet radio show, "Working the Web to Win" on BlogTalkRadio.com, which airs every Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern. Hector is a syndicated writer and published author of “60 Seconds to Success.” 

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