Sunday, March 13, 2011

Google primed to take over the world


Well, almost.

Sales coming in from February 2011 show that Google's Android operating system - released in 2008 - has taken the lead in the mobile wars, boasting an impressive 31.2 percent market share. This compares to Research in Motion's Blackberry with 30.4 percent market share, and Apple's surprisingly low 24.7 percent third-place share.

Add this to the list of markets where Google continues to reign supreme. Needless to say, Google still dominates all searches on the internet, taking up 65.4 percent of online inquiries, with Microsoft trailing with a meager (but growing) 13.6 percent claim with its search engine Bing.

Of course, Google has also found success in other online ventures, namely their Gmail messaging systems and - you guessed it - Blogger.

As a result, the company, which has popularized itself to the point of being turned into a verb, sold a whopping $29.3 billion (yes, there's a "b" in the beginning) in ads last year.

Like so many other industries in today's world, it seems cyberland has found itself overtaken by one reigning company, joining the likes of Macy's and Rupert Murdoch (he's not technically a company, but he'd might as well be) as leading conglomerates.

What does it indicate, that the search engine company that once relied on the likes of Microsoft and Apple, has now become each respective companies' greatest competitor? Google is out for blood, and one can only imagine what the company's sales figures and market dominance will look like only a few years from now.

Is it a good thing that Google has become the mainstream, go-to source it is? What does it mean for society - or better yet, the internet? Unfortunately, these are two questions that can't be answered by just "googling it."

2 comments:

  1. HOW DARE YOU QUESTION GOOGLE ON BLOGGER. That's rude.

    Seriously though, things like this scare me. Though I have to say, Google's seemed pretty cool with what they stand for. Like with censorship, they don't necessarily agree with it: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/04/google-fights-online-censorship-with-new-government-requests-tool.html

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  2. I am half and half with Google, I like what they offer, but I dislike a few choices they've made. Google has made some steps against net neutrality in the past which really irks me. But one day when Google rules all of humanity, I'll learn to accept my new overlords at Google.

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