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Google train building steam

Google continues to build the empire.If one looks at the acquisitions Google has made in the last few years it is easy to see how they are either assembling through acquisition or developing in house all of the major piece parts necessary to become not only the largest media portal on the web but will forever change how we work and play online. This train has left the station some time back and those that have leadership in this space lookout, but it is probably already to late. If they themselves or through a partnership add a major broadband wireless component there will no longer be any way for the others to halt their future dominance. They have also recently announced they are going to offer live broadcasting on YouTube.

Let me start by highlighting just a few of the strategic moves they have made in the last few years.

2007/01 - Acquires Xunlei (Partial Acquisition)
- File Sharing Website

2007/03 - Acquires Adscape Media

- In-Game Advertising for Video Games

2007/03 - Acquires Gapminder's Trendalyzer Software

- Presentation Software

2007/04 - Acquires Doubleclick

- Advertising Technology Platform

2007/04 - Acquires Tonic Systems
- Presentation Creation and Document Conversion Technology

2007/04 - Acquires Marratech
- Video Conferencing Software

2007/05 - Acquires Green Border Technologies
- Secure Connections for Web Browsing and Email

2007/05 - Acquires Panoramio
- Community Photos Website (Works with Google Earth)

2007/06 - Acquires Feedburner
- Feed Distribution and Management Tools

2007/07 - Acquires GrandCentral Communications
- Services for Managing Voice Communications

If we only look at the last year we see a mix of both business and consumer focus that includes for business, file sharing, video conferencing, document conversion, voice communications, presentation software, secure connections all mainly focused on business, just maybe targeting WebEx and going after the business web collaboration market. On the consumer side In-game advertising, community photos, and advertising technology platform that supports their services for free model.

Lets also look at some of the other acquisitions they made a few years back.

2006/11 - Acquires YouTube Inc
- Consumer Media Company (Watch and Share Videos)

Made video on the web relevant

2006/03 – Acquires Upstartle (Writely)
- Web Based Collaborative Document Editor (Online Word Processing)

Another business tool

2006/01 - Acquires dMarc Broadcasting
- Digital Solutions for Radio Broadcasting Industry

A little broadcasting thrown in

2005/08 - Acquires Android
- Software for Mobile Phones (Operating Systems for Cell Phones?)

Two years later they formally announce the Android open standard SDK

This one along with YouTube is a real biggy.

Android is an open handset standard from Google offering a new SDK for developers that promotes the following capabilities. Android will ship with a set of core applications including an email client, SMS program, calendar, maps, browser, contacts, and others. All applications are written using the Java programming language. Adding new capabilities to the core set that is already in place should entice developers to flock to this new standard because now they can build an application once and it will run on any and all handhelds that adopt this standard. Additional capabilities are highlighted below.

Android open standard allows you to access core mobile device functionality through standard API calls.
Android makes all applications equal, it does not differentiate between the phone's basic and third-party applications -- even the dialer or home screen can be replaced.
Combine information from the web with data on the phone -- such as contacts or geographic location -- to create new user experiences and breaking down traditional boundaries.
The SDK contains what you need to build and run Android applications, including a true device emulator and advanced debugging tools making new application development fast and easy.

Then just today this article.

By Thomas Claburn
InformationWeek
March 13, 2008 01:55 PM

With its acquisition of DoubleClick finally approved in the U.S. and Europe, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is beginning the process of integrating and adjusting its advertising services.

On Thursday, Google announced the first such move, the beta launch of Google Ad Manager, an online ad inventory management tool for Web publishers.

"Directed at addressing the ad management and serving needs of publishers with smaller sales teams, Google Ad Manager is a free, hosted ad and inventory management tool that can help publishers sell, schedule, deliver, and measure their directly sold and network-based ad inventory," said Rohit Dhawan, a Google senior product manager, in a blog post. "It offers an intuitive and simple user experience with Google speed and a tagging process so publishers can spend more time working with their advertisers and less time on their ad management solution."

Through ad inventory tracking and forecasting, Google Ad Manager aims to help publishers sell as much of their ad space inventory as possible. It provides tools for inventory management, yield optimization, ad targeting, ad delivery, order booking, ad materials and media management, and reporting.

Google Ad Manager, said Dhawan, is aimed at publishers with small ad sales teams and has been designed to complement the DoubleClick Revenue Center, which was designed for larger clients.

Having participated in early Google Ad Manager testing, Sarah Romer, director of sales and marketing for Washingtonian.com, said in a statement that the ad management service has helped her company by saving it time and money. Google Ad Manager is currently available by invitation only. Dhawan said that the Google Ad Manager beta program will expand over time.

In summary

Just like the perfect storm Google has put together the perfect puzzle right before our eyes, I think the answer to that is yes. Google is a verb when it comes to search, but Google has moved way beyond a search company.