Excellent post. Back in 2006 I was doing competitive strategy at Microsoft, which was code for "what the heck are we going to do about Google?" One of the things we looked a lot at was corporate culture. Google's biggest success have been all about the power of algorithms, and removing people form the equation as much as possible. Combine that with the lack of attention to design in the companies formative stage and you come up with a limited range of sweet spots. Even back then it was clear they would have a hard time broadening their base.
Google's obvious big competitors Microsoft and Yahoo have had major execution fails and have their own cultural challenges, so they've had quite a few years of dominance. But as Microsoft, IBM, Digital Equipment, and many others have found out, that also makes it tougher to change.
Google's obvious big competitors Microsoft and Yahoo have had major execution fails and have their own cultural challenges, so they've had quite a few years of dominance. But as Microsoft, IBM, Digital Equipment, and many others have found out, that also makes it tougher to change.