They're talking about splitting up Google into different companies because it's too big and they allegedly committed antitrust violations.
I don't think a lot of people realize how much the modern web is built up around Google and their money. Google makes android, pushes the google search engine through android, and pays Apple to use the google search engine as well. Google pays to develop Chrome, but also pays Firefox huge amounts to use the google search engine.
Most of Google's businesses and partnerships are loss leaders intended to push people into Google's lucrative search engine.
If Google gets split up, I think immediately many of those loss leaders shut down because they won't be profitable if they're not pointing people towards a lucrative business. Chrome doesn't make sense. Android doesn't make sense. Youtube likely isn't going to make sense in its current form but could be made a lot worse to make it worth running. I really question if a lot of projects like Opera or Firefox continue without the huge money injections from Google.
That isn't necessarily to say that breaking up Google would be automatically bad. There's businesses such as Rumble that are struggling to compete against Youtube for example because they're a real company that needs to make money and they're competing with a loss leader being used to drive the profitable business. Linux on Mobile may end up getting a boost when Android itself has to justify itself based on revenue and so either drives up the cost per device somehow or adds a bunch of crapware to help the android devs get paid. The fact that virtually every browser lives on Google's search largesse also suggests that there's undue influence from this one company and its policies on the entire product category. A lot of marginal product categories seem likely to be shut down altogether since they don't make any sense as anything but a loss leader, which in cases they're making a good product is a problem, but isn't so bad in the sense that someone else can get a crack at niche markets.
Some unanticipated things could happen -- the world is on gmail in particular, what if gmail had to survive independently? How about google chat? How about google docs? I'd expect without acting as a gateway to search they'd all lose their raison d'etre pretty quickly. The Google Graveyard could find itself with a lot more headstones.
Ironically, that might help Microsoft slot into a much better position with many of its integrated services. Might they be next?
I guess on the other hand, there's also the reality that Google is a huge company with a lot of influence, so if there's a chance to just pay a fine or accept some restrictions that hurt in the short term but are ignored in the long term -- just like what happened with Microsoft -- I bet there'll be pressure to do that. So we'll see what if anything happens.
I don't think a lot of people realize how much the modern web is built up around Google and their money. Google makes android, pushes the google search engine through android, and pays Apple to use the google search engine as well. Google pays to develop Chrome, but also pays Firefox huge amounts to use the google search engine.
Most of Google's businesses and partnerships are loss leaders intended to push people into Google's lucrative search engine.
If Google gets split up, I think immediately many of those loss leaders shut down because they won't be profitable if they're not pointing people towards a lucrative business. Chrome doesn't make sense. Android doesn't make sense. Youtube likely isn't going to make sense in its current form but could be made a lot worse to make it worth running. I really question if a lot of projects like Opera or Firefox continue without the huge money injections from Google.
That isn't necessarily to say that breaking up Google would be automatically bad. There's businesses such as Rumble that are struggling to compete against Youtube for example because they're a real company that needs to make money and they're competing with a loss leader being used to drive the profitable business. Linux on Mobile may end up getting a boost when Android itself has to justify itself based on revenue and so either drives up the cost per device somehow or adds a bunch of crapware to help the android devs get paid. The fact that virtually every browser lives on Google's search largesse also suggests that there's undue influence from this one company and its policies on the entire product category. A lot of marginal product categories seem likely to be shut down altogether since they don't make any sense as anything but a loss leader, which in cases they're making a good product is a problem, but isn't so bad in the sense that someone else can get a crack at niche markets.
Some unanticipated things could happen -- the world is on gmail in particular, what if gmail had to survive independently? How about google chat? How about google docs? I'd expect without acting as a gateway to search they'd all lose their raison d'etre pretty quickly. The Google Graveyard could find itself with a lot more headstones.
Ironically, that might help Microsoft slot into a much better position with many of its integrated services. Might they be next?
I guess on the other hand, there's also the reality that Google is a huge company with a lot of influence, so if there's a chance to just pay a fine or accept some restrictions that hurt in the short term but are ignored in the long term -- just like what happened with Microsoft -- I bet there'll be pressure to do that. So we'll see what if anything happens.
- replies
- 0
- announces
- 0
- likes
- 2