Can Google Survive?
from the the-critics-emerge dept
As more and more people start talking about a possible Google IPO, the business critics are starting to show up. They point out that Google might not be such a great business prospect after all. First, there are the obvious problems with the ad market in general. The critics claim that Google's text ads are less likely to find favor with advertisers and limit how many ads Google can put on their pages. I think this argument is a bit naive. Google's system for buying advertising is much easier, and at a much lower cost than most sites - making it very friendly to many advertisers, who prefer the ease of use. Plus, by not pissing off the Google users with large annoying ads, advertisers might find people more receptive to the ads. However, the article then attacks Google's more important move into corporate search. They point out that they're not doing nearly as well as their main competitors (Verity and Inktomi) and offer a hosted product - that many companies won't be willing to use. Finally, they question the overall market size of corporate search. However, Google has been successful in signing up some big name corporate clients, and certainly has a strong product and good brand recognition. They may be very successful as a company, but the article questions the size of the hill it will be on top of.
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