

Ask HN: What are some innovative products Google has come up with? - toaltctrl

Google is well known for it&#x27;s highly innovative culture.  They hire the best and brightest who then create products that change our lives.  Well, at least that&#x27;s what the television says.<p>I&#x27;m having a problem trying to figure out what innovative products they actually created.<p>EXCLUDING ANY PRODUCT OR COMPANY THAT WAS BOUGHT, what are some innovative products that Google created on it&#x27;s own?  Is it still alive?  Is it popular?
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minthd
Google translate. chrome. Chromebooks(zero maintenance laptop). Google books.

Android(altough they bought it at first, what they bought wasn't even close to
how android and touch based smartphones look today ,so it can be considered a
internal development.And the innovation there was creating such OS that fits
many phones and their business model with it).

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byoung2
Gmail and Google Maps we're developed in house, and are still alive and
kicking.

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toaltctrl
Gmail, yes.

Maps, I'm not so sure. Wikiepdia says it was created when Google acquired
Where 2 Technologies, Keyhole, and ZipDash.

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olalonde
A search engine. Still alive and popular.

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hyp0
Also adwords (the product that is actually sold). Brilliant idea: users only
see ads relevant to their interests; advertisers get qualified users, and
instant feedback and adjustment; google gets the highest price possible (by
advertisers bidding against each other).

Google is double the good guy: (1) helps users for free, because advertisers
pay for it (like free-to-air TV); (2) advertisers can't complain about
google's high prices, because it's the _other_ guy who bid it up (like selling
munitions in an arms race).

I believe google came up with this independently BUT goto/overture did it
first, patented it, sued, and google settled.

So far as revenue is concerned, this is Google's only product.

