The Google Phenomenon: Brilliant!

On September 7, 1998, the world witnessed the birth of an

amazing success story. That's when Google was born, and the rest

as they say is history.



Wow, what an understatement! Calling Google amazing is like

saying Tiger Woods is merely a great golfer. The fact of the

matter is, superlatives can't even begin to measure the impact

Google has had on society, or the world at large for that matter.



So, how did Google get to this point? Well, the answer to that

question can be broken down into three critical categories:



1. Brilliant management: Google's staff includes some of the

most experienced technology and business professionals in

Silicon Valley and around the world. This fine team is led of

course by co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Google has

5,680 full time employees as of December 31, 2005, many of whom

are technical/engineering.



2. Brilliant marketing: With a user base in the millions,

Google is able to identify points of friction quickly and smooth

them out. Google's point of distinction however, is anticipating

needs not yet articulated by our global audience, then meeting

them with products and services that set new standards. This

constant dissatisfaction with the way things are is ultimately

the driving force behind the world's best search engine.



3. A brilliant game plan: Google does not accept being the best

as an endpoint, but a starting point. Through innovation and

iteration, Google takes something that works well and improves

upon it in unexpected ways. Search works well for properly

spelled words, but what about typos? One engineer saw a need and

created a spell checker that seems to read a user's mind.

Realizing it takes too long to search from a WAP phone, Google's

wireless group developed Google Number Search to reduce entries

from three keystrokes per letter to one. Google always seems to

be at least one step ahead of the competion.



So, where did the name Google come from? The name "Google" is a

play on the word "googol," which was coined by Milton Sirotta,

nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner, and was

popularized in the book, "Mathematics and the Imagination" by

Kasner and James Newman. It refers to the number represented by

the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros. Google's use of the term

reflects the company's mission to organize the immense,

seemingly infinite amount of information available on the web.



Let's take a quick look at a few of Google's many

accomplishments:



Google AdWords



In October 2000, Google announced its new content-targeted

advertising program. Google AdWords was a huge "out-of-the- box"

success, boasting well over 100,000 advertisers to date.



AdWords Select



In February 2002, Google launched AdWords Select, an updated

version of the AdWords self-service advertising system with a

number of new enhancements, including cost-per-click (CPC)-

based pricing.



Froogle



In December 2002, Google introduced a beta version of Froogle, a

play on the word "frugal," a product search engine that enables

users to search for millions of products across the web.



Google AdSense



In June 2003, Google anounced AdSense, a program designed to

maximize the revenue potential of a website by serving highly

relevant ads specific to the content of the page, launches with

initial partners, including ABC.com, HowStuffWorks, Internet

Broadcasting Systems, Inc., Lycos Europe, Knight Ridder Digital,

About.com, CNET and others.



Google Deskbar



In November 2003, Google announced the Google Deskbar, a free

software download which enables users to search Google without

using a web browser.



Blogger



Also, in 2003, Google acquired Pyra Labs and became the home for

Blogger, a leading provider of services for those inclined to

share their thoughts with the world through online journals

(weblogs).



Gmail



On April 1, 2004, Google announced a new web-based mail service

called Gmail that will include a gigabyte of free storage for

each user. The service also includes a powerful search engine to

locate and retrieve messages, which are displayed in a

"conversation view" that chronologically arranges all emails

sent or received with the same subject line. Gmail also includes

relevant advertising delivered with the same technology that

scans web pages as part of the AdSense service.



Google Mini



The Google Search Appliance spawned a new blue Google Mini, a

smaller and lower-cost solution for small and medium-sized

businesses that want Google quality search for their documents

and sites. The Mini is the first (and so far only) Google

hardware product to be sold only through the Google Store.



Google Video Store



And 2006 arrived with a bang: a brand new Google Video store –

now featuring many titles from numerous content partners, and

the ability to view or download them using a new Google Video

Player. What's more, filmmakers can set the price and level of

copy protection for their productions, giving fans far more

variety than was previously available. While at the massive

Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, we also unleashed a

Google Pack – a free collection of safe and useful software for

improving the web experience.



So, what's next? Only Google knows for sure. But you can bet the

world will be watching!





**Carmella Giovanni is a free-lance writer currently living in

San Francisco, California. Carmella may be reached at

carmgiovanni@yahoo.com



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