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HOW GOOGLE IS CREATING NEW MARKETSFocusing on future marketsThe 28th of May this year might end up being one of the most influential 24-hourperiods in web history. It was on this day that Google launched a newcommunications platform called Google Wave, and if Wave lives up to its promise itmay change digital communication forever. While the web elite are all abuzz aboutthe impact of this new platform on the way we communicate, Google has quietly beenreleasing a steady stream of new products and further improvements to their coreproduct, the search engine and its related advertising tools. Google is not goingto give us a roadmap for what this all means, but it is possible to look at thepatterns and take a long view.The search landscapeThere has been a lot of talk about the new kids on the search block, WolframAlpha, Twitter search and Microsoft’s latest entry, Bing (which could be anacronym for 'But It’s Not Google'). Some commentators have been speculating thatmany of the additions to Google search pages, such as the new options area wherethere is real-time search among other features, are Google’s answer to real-timesearch on Twitter search, and the decision engine promised by Bing. And whilecompetition has undoubtedly accelerated Google’s release of features, it is apretty safe bet to assume that Google is not simply being reactive.Google owns over 70% of the search market world wide. Wolfram Alpha is designed asa computational engine which, in plain English, means it is an attempt to create atype of artificial intelligence and tease data out of the internet in a differentway. Not really a direct threat to Google – in fact it can be seen as acomplementary feature. Twitter Search is a real-time search engine based on thecollective conversations of every Twitter user. Interesting but also not a hugethreat to Google search. Bing, combined with Yahoo, is really the only directthreat to Google. And, while Microsoft and Yahoo are spending a lot of money onmarketing, they have a long way to go.Google products are everywhereCurrently Google has something in the vicinity of 200 applications and servicesavailable (for a full list see here), most of which are free. New ones seem to becoming out on a weekly basis. A few weeks back we saw the release of GoogleSquared, a very interesting research tool with loads of potential. A visual searchtool for news, Flipper, is expected shortly. And recently Google announced thatwill be launching a new operating system.It is fairly common knowledge that any technology Google develops is directed atincreasing the usage of the web as a whole, thereby increasing the value of it’smain revenue stream, AdWords, the advertising medium based on relevance andconsumer intent.Forget eBay, AdWords is the world’s biggest auction! Every single search that isperformed on Google is automatically analysed so that the most relevant 'sponsoredlink' is displayed on the page and, of course, paid for by the advertiser. Whenyou look at the cost of an individual click the numbers are small. But when youanalyse the volume of searches that are performed it really starts to getimpressive. Enough to net Google USD $21 Billion in 2008.The temptation is to draw the line there... “Google is trying to get us all to use
 
the browser even more, so we can do more searches, so they can make more money”.This is true – but there’s more to it.I've seen the future and it's thinThe big difference between using Google AdWords and say print advertising – apartfrom the huge difference in volume of data you can extract, is that it levels theplaying field. You can be a multi-national corporation with tens of millions tospend but if the copy of your ad is less relevant to the searcher’s intent, thanan ad by a one-person shop you won’t get the top spot. It is this fact that hasseen online advertising for the SME market skyrocket. Naturally, Google is wellaware of this.The web has become almost as essential as electricity and water in most of thetechnologically advanced areas of the world. In these societies the middle classare the highest users. But Google has spotted that poorer, less advanced countriespresent a huge growth opportunity. The current barrier to entry for thisdemographic is the window into the net: the computer.Much of the cost of a computer is tied up in the processor power and the diskspace. What Google is doing by creating free ’software as a service’ applications(cloud computing) is removing much of the technology requirement and cost. If allthe processing is done at Google’s end the client’s machine need not be the latestand greatest computer on the market. The dramatic uptake of the NetBook is a greatexample of this. And the sale on eBay of the first generation of NetBooks for afew bucks presages the opening up of entirely new markets.This is all about taking everybody towards a ‘thin client model‘. In this case the‘client’ is the web end point – your window in the web – be it a NetBook, a TV, aphone, or just a screen plugged into the wall. The ‘thin’ part is the technology.Keep it simple and keep it cheap. The idea of the thin client model has beenaround for a while, but Google is doing the most to advance it for the generalpopulation.Hold on – we're about to take offWhen the technology gets cheap enough, the new target market for search-relatedproducts will be most of the world. Google knows this and is already investing alot of time into removing another barrier – language. One of the plug insshowcased when they launched Google Wave was a language translator that works asyou type. This enables you to have real-time conversations with anyone in theworld. Together these innovations will bring information, education, and wealth tothe masses in entirely new geographies.In short Google knows it has the lion's share of the current search market. Theyare now aggressively creating entirely new market – ones that are potentially muchbigger.As marketers we shouldn’t underestimate the size of this opportunity. Sure, wewill have to learn new technologies and customs, but we will also be able tomarket to entirely new groups of people with a new range of needs and wants – apart of the world that will grow in power and influence. If you thought the first20 years of the world wide web brought a lot of change to the way we do things,you haven’t seen anything yet.A recent Harvard Business Review article titled 'The New Frontiers' referencedcase studies from around the world where companies are using social networks andother web technologies to adjust their position in the value chain.
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