Google's DNA 171
bart_scriv writes "Businessweek confronts Google naysayers with an analysis of the company's business structure, arguing that its unique structure lends it the flexibility to adapt to any and all markets: 'Google is actually the first company with a brand that is built entirely on stem cells: able to grow and develop into whatever form it sees fit.' The article predicts significant changes for the company in communications, hardware, entertainment and localization and goes on to argue that Google is on the verge of achieving the holy grail of branding--being all things to all markets."
Googlemobiles! (Score:5, Interesting)
Google does have the coolness market cornered right now, though. They have continued to do a great job on their search engine, and their email, mapping, and other web services are really well done.
I would like to see Google truly act like stem cells and develop a better car. I am willing to bet that a Googlemobile would be truly innovative. Probably it would come with builtin navigation tools such as Google Maps but beyond that it would be self-parking, highly secure from theft (because it runs Linux), and get terrific gas mileage--or else use some other less carbon-generating source such as alcohol or direct solar power.
On a less whimsical note, there's a tremendous potential for Google in branding nifty handheld devices that have easy access to the world's online knowledge, incorporate speech recog and the like. I suspect that Google's move into urban wifi is a step in this direction; if they can control the airwaves and the receiving devices they will truly have vertical integration. And Microsoft will be even more annoyed, which is probably a good thing.
Re:Googlemobiles! (Score:1)
Re:Googlemobiles! (Score:1, Offtopic)
Let's see... (Score:2)
"it\'s" == "it is" && "its" == "possessive"
Re:Googlemobiles! (Score:1)
True - but do remember that none of these are the product. Their main product is advertising space. Search/maps/email are just advertising.
Re:Googlemobiles! (Score:2)
Re:Googlemobiles! (Score:3)
Let's not go overboard with the fanboyism. A car is mainly a mechanical device. Theft = cutting the battery cable, dragging it onto a flatbed and driving away. No amount of code (Linux or not) can prevent that.
Re:Googlemobiles! (Score:1)
Re:Googlemobiles! (Score:1)
Re:Googlemobiles! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Googlemobiles! (Score:2)
Wow!
You sir, are denser than antimatter. From all of us here at
You may now proceed to masturbate to a desktop wallpaper of Natalie Portman.
Re:Googlemobiles! (Score:1)
I am willing to bet that a Googlemobile would be truly innovative. Probably it would come with builtin navigation tools such as Google Maps but beyond that it would be self-parking, highly secure from theft (because it runs Linux), and get terrific gas mileage--or else use some other less carbon-generating source such as alcohol or direct solar power.
Yeah, but it would also monitor every place that you drive. Not to be evil, mind you, but to make suggestions about what stores you might like to drive to.
The most controversial feature would be... (Score:2)
But, in some countries it would only run on government approved roads. In other
Re:Googlemobiles! (Score:1)
Unfortunately, the Googlemobile Beta(TM) would only run on paved roads. A gravel-road-capable version would be In Development(TM) for some time.
Also, you wouldn't actually buy a Googlemobile. Each beta driver would receive twenty sets of keys which they could give to their friends to enable them to go pick up their own Googlemobile.
It would have awkward handling too, because if its 2500-cubic-foot trunk (71-cubic-meter boot, for those across the po
Re:Googlemobiles! (Score:2)
Re:Googlemobiles! (Score:5, Funny)
Release Notes:
- Added new feature that allows the car to integrate with Google's free Wi-Fi networks that would use your current location to find open parking spaces near you and indicate them on the Google Maps interface.
- Added new DIY maintenance feature that allows you to search a database of thousands of repairs and receive instructions as well as maps to the closest retailers selling replacement parts.
- Added feature to use the hot air generated by Google Fanbois (TM) as an energy source replacement for gasoline. The Googlemobile gets an EPA estimated 280 mi/GPA (Google Product Announcement).
- Disabled optional feature to post back to Google that you're currently being cited for speeding or other driving infraction. The google network is no longer able to alert all other Google drivers that there are officers in that vicinity so that they can avoid being ticketed. This feature has been disabled pending the outcome of the class action suit filed on behalf of 10 separate state highway patrol organizations.
End User License Agreement (EULA)
This automobile is provided by Google "as is" and any express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are disclaimed. In no event shall google be liable for any direct, indirect, incedental, exemplary, or consequential damages (including, but not limited to, procurement of substitute goods or services; loss of use, life or profits; or business interruptions) however caused and on any theory of liability, whether in contract, strict liability, or tort (including negligence or otherwise) arising in any way out of the use of this automobile, even if advised of the possibility of such damage.
Stem Cells (Score:2)
At Google, most new ideas are dreamed up and implemented by individual contributors. That's why the search engine keeps getting cool new features without any prior notice. That's a good way to drive innovation. Problem is, that leaves ever
Good God (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Good God (Score:3, Funny)
Google ARE god.
I can't decide who is the devil however, does he wear a turtleneck or does he throw chairs?
Re:Good God (Score:1)
Re:Good God (Score:2)
Re:Good God (Score:2)
Re:Good God (Score:2)
Let's not try to shoehorn this into a monotheistic or dualistic metaphor here.
I would liken Microsoft to Saturn [wikipedia.org] perhaps. Google and Yahoo! (and perhaps Apple's current Jobs 2.0 incarnation) represent the Gods of Olympus. The Web 2.0 companies are the various assorted nymphs and sprites.
Re:Good God (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Good God (Score:5, Insightful)
Many people will likely lose their shirts on Google stock, but I have no sympathy for people who should've learned before how dangerous it is to look at an overvalued stock as a long-term stable investment.
Re:Good God (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Good God (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Good God (Score:2)
Re:Good God (Score:2)
That reminds me, I need to go buy some Google stock right now.
Re:Good God (Score:4, Informative)
Sales data:
Google Yahoo
2004 3.1 3.5
Lastyear 6.1 5.3
Q4 05 1.9 1.5
CompanyPrice 122B 44B
I don't expect Google to assimilate everything. But their sales is growing fast. There is quite good potential that Google grows to a company with 10Billion yearly profits, for which the sharevalue would be quite reasonable. Giving pretty good return on investment if that happens. And a small chance of growing to a company with more than 15Billion yearly profits.
And its pretty certain that Google will be more successfull than Yahoo. But if Google cannot grow to its potential then its probably more successfull company than Yahoo and makes good bucks on advertisement, but nothing great enough to varrant its share value.
Re:Good God (Score:2)
First, the company has been around 8 years. After 6 years at Yahoo, the hype had LONG died down.
Yahoo was a pioneer in the field, but they allowed a regular management team to take hold. IOW, they are a regular company.
Google is about a totally different infrastructure. It is doing what many techies have said needed to be done. IMHO, they will remain this way until one of the 3 is gone, esp. because of Schmidt. They are more akin to Disney when it was r
Re:Good God (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Good God (Score:2)
Re:Good God (Score:2)
As to the company itself, it is being ran differently and made differently. Long term, it will produce more great products (as opposed to just copying or stealing them). It is probably a good buy, even at this price, assuming that you are buying for a decade or two (if you
Re:Good God (Score:2)
Re:Good God (Score:2)
I'm pretty strongly pro-Google (I own shares), but I read this article and kept thinking "Oh God, please make it stop."
I think you're right. We're witnessing the birth of the next dotcom boom. And this is gonna be one ugly baby.
Uh oh, don't tell the President about this! (Score:3, Funny)
Don't let Bush know! He'll demand that they do not produce any new products based on new stem cells, but only using existing stem cells. After all, using new products would be tantamount to murder and might upset his base.
If Google succeeds, the terrorists win.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Uh oh, don't tell the President about this! (Score:3, Interesting)
Clearly, all Google searches must be forwarded through AT&T servers, and hence to the NSA. All this will be done at the expense of Google, after all, they're Google's packets, on the NSAs network.
Yes, sure... (Score:5, Insightful)
But don't stem cells become static and defined after some time? I hate to say it, but I think the innovation well will dry up eventually.
Re:Yes, sure... (Score:2)
If anyone still cares about the latest Google beta in five years, now that seems more interesting...
Stem cells (Score:2)
Actually, any stem cell continues spawning adult cells until it fails due to DNA degradation or expiration of its host's body. It's the offspring that become static and expendable.
AlpineR
Google's DNA (Score:2, Funny)
Flash in the pan (Score:2, Interesting)
Treat Google like any other company: sprinkle its stock in a nice diversified layer over your other holdings.
Re:Flash in the pan (Score:4, Funny)
Oh Great Google (Score:3, Funny)
Google DNA? (Score:1, Offtopic)
Oh oh! Look at Google's shiny new Finance page. Sweet! Ewww now I got Google DNA all over myself.
Big multinationals (Score:1)
Time to short Google... (Score:3, Insightful)
If that's true, then pick one or two and excel in those markets the way you excel in adwords.
I hate to say it, but Google reminds me more and more of Netscape in 1996. Both companies were leaders with strong brand names and one great product (web browser, search engine, etc.). However, Netscape utterly failed to build on their success, squandered their brand name and was eventually equalled and bettered by Microsoft. I see the same thing going on now with Google as they lurch from one non-profitable project to another and other competitors start eyeing the search engine market again...
Re:Time to short Google... (Score:3, Interesting)
When IE on Vista defaults the homepage to an MSN search page that actually works nearly as well as google, you have to wonder if most people (obviously not all people) will bother typing in google.com at all.
Re:Time to short Google... (Score:2)
In other words, Google took its great product (search engine) and successfully took it to market (via advertising). Building a great new business requires both a great product and great business execution in establishing a market for it, and Google has excelled at both ends so far.
Grails (Score:2)
But if Google's DNA is so adaptable... (Score:2, Insightful)
...doesn't that make it a virus? It can basically spread from one place to another, adapting to each new "host" as it goes.
Now, before the "Troll" stamps come out, I'm not saying this is necessarily bad, though this does tend to make Google a... wait for it... monopoly. Yes there are competitors, but they seem a distant second right now and are probably going to remain so if the article is true. I doubt Yahoo can modify its culture to compete directly with Google.
Google's strength in being so adaptable
all hail the new economy (Score:2, Funny)
Re:all hail the new economy (Score:2)
Google$oft (Score:1, Interesting)
They've pretty much killed off all competition in the search engine business. Sites I used when I started using the web, like Altavista [altavista.com] and AllTheWeb [alltheweb.com] are now even copying Googles layout!
In Holland the verb 'to Google' has actually been added to the dictionary, I believe.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing, since Google is/was simply the best. It does mean however that pretty much all Internet searching is done through Google,
Re:Google$oft (Score:2)
Not in the slightest. There is a massive difference between Microsoft's monopoly and Google's monopoly. Google's monopoly doesn't lock you in.
Switching from Windows to another operating system means replacing all the software that is depend
Re:Google$oft (Score:2)
It's in /etc/hosts now and forever, and it fucking rules! If I ever want something cool to do, I'll think of some clever thing for pagead/show_ads.js, but for now it's nice to be missing out on ads without resorting to crappy bloated Firefox extensions.
It ain't BusinessWeek's opinion... (Score:5, Insightful)
For instance, check this sentence: "Google is actually the first company with a brand that is built entirely of stem cells: able to grow and develop into whatever form it sees fit."
Huh? World's first company? Built entirely of stem cells? Into whatever it sees fit?
What is this guy smoking?
Google's decision to branch into many unrelated/related ideas is not due to any stem cells or mitochondria, but simply because it has enough money and talent to do so. More importantly, the stock market that usually punishes companies for expanding too fast/too much still seems to be in awe of Google.
Imagine Microsoft deciding to enter into server harware, or Sun into smartphones, or Dell into online dating! But when Google does it, its suddenly "stem cells" in action!
Re:It ain't BusinessWeek's opinion... (Score:3, Insightful)
I think you're missunderstanding the point of the "stem cell" metaphor: That most of the products/services that Google is offering aren't solutions themselves, but rather are means to solutions which remain in the hands of the users or perhaps more approrpriately, independent developers.
Google Earth is fun. Building applic
Re:It ain't BusinessWeek's opinion... (Score:2)
Obviously they are harvesting their workers for stem cells. They are probalbly keep in fluid vats, like the Matrix. That would also explain their great employee morale because they all believe they are living in the Playboy mansion. Life at Google is sweet!
Blather (Score:5, Funny)
IMO rather than proving Google are somehow "built almost entirely out of stem cells", this actually shows that Businessweek publishes artices built almost entirely out of bullshit.
Re:Blather (Score:2)
Google falls short... (Score:2)
Not even close to "all things to all geeks" (Score:2)
- Compile my code
- Index and store my code
- Back up my sensitive information
- Provide my game content or hardware
- Serve as my rendering engine or have any other graphics role
- Have anything to do with my cell phone
- Handle my email
- Provide my browser
- Search my local content
It's a pretty good search engine...but that's pretty much it. Even though Google COULD provide serve some of those needs listed above, the avera
Hmmm (Score:4, Insightful)
The fastest and surest was to displease everyone is to try and please everyone.
-Grey [wellingtongrey.net]
Let's not forget about Google's evil side... (Score:5, Interesting)
Remember how in US airports a person could be denied to take a flight, but due to "national security" wasn't allowed to see which law was applied? "National security". Um... yeah. Right.
Well, Google can remove your membership because of "Click fraud", but due to "trade secret" you weren't allowed to see the fraudulent traffic.
Um... yeah. Right.
Re:Let's not forget about Google's evil side... (Score:3, Interesting)
All things... (Score:5, Funny)
Google Beer. I can hardly wait!
Re:All things... (Score:2)
Overvalued.... (Score:1)
Re:Overvalued.... (Score:2)
Meaningless Metaphor (Score:3, Insightful)
Google Hardware? Genetic mission accomplished... The stem-cell question for prospective consumers is, Where would you prefer to buy this hardware...?
Guys like the author are the reason scientific terms get degraded and clouded in the mind of the public. £10 says this guy couldn't give a coherent description of DNA, stem cells OR why he thinks they apply to the business world.
-Grey [wellingtongrey.net]
Like Chocolate (Score:1)
Re:Like Chocolate (Score:2)
Would people buy Google Chocolate? Google Motorbikes? Google Bookshelves? Google Hifi Speakers? Google shoes? Google clothes? Google perfume? Google food?
Outside of their 'cool tech things' bracket, they have just the same problem as other brands. People have heard of them, but I'm not sure that would help them all that much - not over and above the recognition any other brand gets. Sometimes
Re:Like Chocolate (Score:2)
Well, compared to th
I love (Score:1)
Yeah, but... (Score:1)
- drink Google Beer?
- wear Google Glasses?
- drive a Googlemobile?
- see a movie at the Googleplex?
- wear Google #5 parfum?
- wipe with "don't squeeze the Google!"
Re:Yeah, but... (Score:2)
Confused Author (Score:5, Insightful)
"What naysayers don't understand is that the DNA of the Google brand is unlike anything ever seen in the modern market landscape. Google is actually the first company with a brand that is built entirely of stem cells: able to grow and develop into whatever form it sees fit."
I'm not really sure what DNA has to do with stem cells in this sense. The first sentence implies we're going to hear about Google's "parents", perhaps the companies the employees worked at before coming to Google. The following sentence about stem cells is comlpetely unrelated, as DNA isn't really what makes stem cells interesting, especially not in this case.
I know it's kind of nitpicky, but frankly it's annoying to see this kind of stuff when the audience is relatively scientifically well-versed, at least compared to the general public.
Re:Confused Author (Score:2)
Let's take a look at what would have happened if the author had material from some other field:
Cooking:
"What naysayers don't understand is that the garlic of the Google brand is unlike anything ever seen in the modern market landscape. Google is actually the first company with a brand that is built entirely of chicken stock: able to grow
business cycle (Score:2)
Businesses go through cycles of "diversification" (hey, I worked for a freight forwarder that owned gold shares in RSA) followed by "focus" (when someone asks why a car maker owns resort hotels and travel agencies). The business MODEL in general might go through meta-versions of these cycles, where diverse, widely ranging businesses
Analogies are like dandelions. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Analogies are like dandelions. (Score:2)
Sorry, your analogy breaks down here - dandelions are fantastic at extracting minerals from poor soils for compost.
Basic Principle of Human success (Score:2)
Our species survived by outsmarting and overwhelming its game. Coming from all directions, cutting off an animals exits except over a cliff or into the spike lined pit. Spears and fire just helped drive the animal. Until those weapons became more advanced.
Today, the military tries to do the same thing; Come from every direction, with so many different weapons, so many different strategies, each co-opted for their strengths that the enemy can't cha
Google Is (Almost) Pure Marketing (Score:4, Interesting)
Let's look at the main services Google has rolled out: Search, News, Mail, Maps are the principle ones. All available on Yahoo fairly quickly after the Web took off. Image Search and Froogle - I'm not necessarily sure that Yahoo had these linked off their main site, but such search engines for images and pricing did exist back when Yahoo had reached critical mind share and Google was relatively unknown. It's arguable as to whether the improved interfaces are because of good design, or more capable Web browsers (I suspect the truth lies somewhere in between).
This is not to impugn Google's business acumen. In fact, they have proven themselves most capable in this respect. Heck, they were even dictating to Wall Street how their IPO would go. But the bottom line is that Google has offered absolutely nothing truly new that wasn't available years and years ago when you look at the big picture of service offerings. They are simply another Web portal, which were in vogue around 1997 or so. I know people will come out of the wood work saying well they have this beta lab app that Yahoo didn't have, but, you know what? That's a beta lab app. Until they roll it out and no one else has it, big deal, and, from a business perspective, is there actually a revenue stream there or is it just a technical novelty? The only actual significant thing that Google does that makes money is sell text ads.
The question now becomes how long can Google keep this marketing charade up before people realize it's just another Web portal and move on? So far, so good, but keep your fingers crossed.
Stem cells and abortion... (Score:1)
Call it the business analysts' version of jumping the shark.
Happy Days and Long Nights -
- Supergus
For that strategy, it's not Google. Virgin. (Score:2)
Amazingly, it's actually working.
Re:For that strategy, it's not Google. Virgin. (Score:2)
Re:For that strategy, it's not Google. Virgin. (Score:2)
Virgin is the leader with that strategy. Branson has put Virgin into a strange range of businesses. Starting from music, he's expanded into soft drinks (Virgin Cola), air travel (Virgin Atlantic), space travel (Virgin Galactic), railroads (Virgin Trains), cell phones (Virgin Mobile), wine (Virgin Wine), publishing (Virgin Books), Internet services (Virgin.net), and lending (Virgin Money).
Not forgetting Virgin Vodka, Virgin Vie (cosmetics), Virgin Cars, Virgin Student, Virgin Energy, Virgin Travelstore.c
Hello Kitty (Score:2)
Google does not hire the best and brightest (Score:2, Insightful)
I
Same is true of any internet company (Score:2)
Holy Grail? (Score:2)
Todays closing price for GOOG: $409.66 per share.
Time to sell.
Re:DUPE! I Already found this on google search. (Score:1)
Re:Over the top? (Score:2)
Re:Everything in all markets? (Score:1)
Maybe I'm losing it...
How do you measure power? (Score:2, Interesting)
But second, and much more importantly, you're measuring power ("the most powerful company in the US") in terms of dollars. When you consider the number of people that use Google for information, suddenly it becomes much more powerful than a simplistic numbers game reveals. A slight tweak here improves this company's visibility immeasurably; a slight tweak there
Re:Virgin? (Score:2)
Re:another important thing about Google (Score:2)