
Google's Biggest Threat Is Google - domino
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/googles-biggest-threat-is-google/
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jhdavids8
"Google 'should stand for a beauty, technological purity of innovation and
things that are important to people,' he said. It should also be a trusted
brand, he said."

I love this statement, I just hope Google means it. I have a feeling Page
does, as you never hear other big tech CEOs speak like this, but the
"innovation" and "trusted brand" bits are debatable. Yes, Google is extremely
innovative, but they show time and time again they're not above copycatting
others' innovations, a concerning thing especially for startups. If you reach
a point, it's either sell to Google or Google will enter the market and become
your competitor (Dropbox is next up apparently). That's neither innovative or
trusted.

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patrickaljord
To be fair, people have been talking about gdrive since way before dropbox.
It's just that now is the right time, they have a successful mobile OS, google
docs is taking off and chrome OS people need a hard drive. It was a given that
they were going to release something like that if only for Chrome OS.

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shantanubala
Also, Dropbox wasn't revolutionary because of what it was on paper. If you
told me "file sync made easy" I would've been skeptical a few years ago. The
simplicity of Dropbox's interface made it popular, not the actual concept.
Which makes Google's "GDrive" a little more interesting as far as strategy. If
I'm Google, I would want people to stop using Dropbox. Not because I want to
make a competitor to Dropbox, but because I want more people on the web seeing
my ads. If people get used to syncing their files effortlessly, they'll stop
using web-based software and go back to the more responsive, feature-rich, and
integrated desktop tools (eg MS Office vs Google Docs). Less people using the
web = less revenue.

GDrive won't be a "drive." It will be an attempt to get rid of our notions of
files and applications on our computers. Or at least that's my prediction.
They won't bother making a Dropbox clone because it doesn't help them in any
way if it's successful (it'll probably wind up costing them more money than
it's worth) because Dropbox encourages users to use desktop apps and save
files using a traditional file system on their computer.

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ryandvm
They already tried that - it's Google Docs. It's been only moderately
successful, so to boost adoption they're going to hook up a Dropbox interface
to it and pick up all the Dropbox users that also have Google accounts.

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tlogan
This is arrogant statement. It assumes that CEO's vision and leadership is
great but just that inside politics make it not so great.

Google's biggest threats are Apple (mobile front), Facebook (social front),
Amazon (cloud front), and Microsoft (search front).

EDIT: of course I will be downvoted. But this is my honest opinion I would
like to somebody explain me why think this not an arrogant statement.

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yesbabyyes
I'd much rather have an "arrogant" CEO who is aware of how internal processes
slow down and spend time thinking about it than someone who don't know or
care. Obviously, some companies are better at this than others (as you
yourself hinted at in another comment). Page just wants Google to be best at
this. Ambitious, perhaps. Arrogant, not so much.

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dennisgorelik
Larry Page is right: internal problems dominate large companies.

Microsoft is more "mature" corporation and they have much more severe internal
problems.

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tlogan
That is not true. Why internal problems don't dominate Amazon? Why interal
problems don't dominate Oracle (100K+ people)? Google is not so big and old to
claim that is the problem. I think Google's problem is lack of leadership and
vision.

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dennisgorelik
Why do you think internal problems are not dominant in Amazon and Oracle?

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tlogan
First hand experience (not very recent, but I doubt it changed a lot). For
example, Oracle is very customer focused in many teams. I heard many times:
"The only person responsible your salary is customer". That really keeps
things moving smooth.

I understand problem with Google: all these products and projects are free, so
it is really hard to put $$ sign on them. Politics emerges because it is hard
to decide when a paying customer is not your main objective.

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chugger
Google's Biggest Threat Is Google failing to innovate. They're still a one-
trick pony after all these years.

