As a consumer, I love Google. It makes my life more simple and its applications are easy to use. There isn't a lot of extra baggage in its applications and most of its products are free or almost free. With 65% of all Internet searches now going through Google, other tech companies are sitting up, taking notice, and a few are quaking in their boots. Business Week Online recently had an article on Is Google Too Powerful? It is an in depth analysis of how Google rivals are growing in fear of Google's spread and are now fighting back by launching similar products and pursuing intellectual property law suits. "Ecosystems always organize to curtail entities that get too powerful"
The idea of a combined Google/Amazon or Googlezon might be a great combination to consumers. We could get the best of product delivery and online service. However, I've noticed that especially in Amazon's case bigger is not necessarily better. I kind of wish that they had narrowed their focus and increased their quality. A combination of Google and Amazon, or even an expansion of Google could bring out all sorts of quality and antitrust issues. There is also the issue of Google's awesome data reserves which are increasingly become a hot commodity. So much so that Google's data is now considered a national security issue, not to mention a privacy issue.
Other companies are trying to copy Google products and ideas in order to take back market share. Take Yahoo's attempt to release their own form of YouTube for example. One thing that I wish the Time Warners and Verizons of the world would copy off of Google is its corporate mentality and the way they treat their workers. I have friends who work for Google and I know that they really take care of their employees. They don't skimp on their employee benefits and it shows. They generally have happy and content workers which as a result have the freedom to feel creative and secure in their jobs.
I don't think that Google is too powerful, but I hope that regardless of how big they get they hold true to their ideals and create products which are genuinely useful and simple to use, created by workers who are creative and well treated.
