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I need a detailed historical summary of Google's mobile strategy. Specifically, how / why / when have they integrated the web into mobile properties.
Greetings! I understand that you are looking for a detailed summary of Google's mobile strategy, focusing on how, why, and when they integrated web into mobile properties. It is my pleasure to research this for you. The short answer is their work in mobile technology began in 2009 after the introduction of iPhone and Android technologies necessitating the need for faster mobile web services. Please read below for a deep dive of my findings.
METHODOLOGY
In order to research this request, I began by searching for a timeline on their mobile strategy, along with information pertaining to the reasoning for these developments. I focused on both hardware and software innovations.
OVERALL STRATEGY
Steve Faktor, a contributor with Forbes, has offered several deep looks into Google's overall strategy. Faktor states that "Google services must either make money from ads or collect info to enhance ad targeting." He likens Google to a "two-tiered sleeper cell", infiltrating "hostile platforms", such as iOS, with the intent of taking over the platform. The second tier is to flood the market with inexpensive devices in order to increase revenues via ad share and intake of user information.
Faktor describes Google's strategy as the 4 E's - earn, entice & defend, expand the pie, and experiment.
Earn:
In relation to harvesting of user data, he describes the free services offered by Google - from document management to email - as attractive to the "inner shoplifter" in all of us. He then goes on to draw this metaphor, how we would react to free soap from a manufacturer in exchange for allowing them to watch us bathe. 95% of Google's revenues come from advertising, drawing on this data harvest.
Entice and Defend:
Big data streams include information from Google+ and Google Maps. Google+ and Google Play have come about in efforts to defend and retain market share from platforms such as Facebook, Netflix, and iPhone, etc.
Expand the pie:
Expand the pie refers to increasing market share, which for Google, relates to increasing free time for customers. Two of their largest innovations in this have been Glass and self-driving cars. These innovations allow customers more free time to utilize Google's services, thus increasing the time flow of data back to Google. Wallet ties earning and "expand the pie" together with the ability for customers to interact with advertisements and pay at the same time.
Other expansion efforts have been in the form of acquisitions. The 2005 acquisition of mobile software developer Android, has "become the company's main weapon in the smartphone war". Google purchased 6,000 patents from Nortel Networks in April 2011 in an effort to keep them from going to Apple. Later that year in August, Google paid $12.5 billion to acquire Motorola Mobility. Many fear that these acquisitions, seen as defensive against Apple, will ruin their bottom line.
Experiment:
Experimenting at Google is key. All employees are encouraged to spend 20% of their time working on the project of their choosing. Google X labs is their top-secret R&D department responsible for the creation of their platforms.
TIMELINE FOR MOBILE
Google's venture into mobile strategies began in October 2009 with its first post on the Webmaster Central Blog concerning making the mobile web faster. This came about following the 2007 release of the iPhone and 2008 release of Android. In February 2010, the CEO of Google announced that the company would begin making software specifically for mobile phones as they predicted that mobile usage would soon outpace PC. By February 2011, Google had already posted several tips on this blog, and released "its first in-depth guide on making websites mobile friendly". In 2012 and 2013, Google began reworking their search algorithm in an effort to rank results not only by relevance, but by mobile friendliness for those using mobile devices. On April 21, 2015, Google announced that is search rankings would be affected by usability of the website in a mobile platform.
Cloud based services have also been a cornerstone of Google's mobile enterprise. "Docs, Mail, Photos, Video, Blogs and Books all accessed by a single sign-in, Google created the content before they introduced the operating system," bypassing the legal issues encountered by Bill Gates. These services were introduced in 2007, prior to the company actively engaging in mobile strategy; however, with the fact that in 2014, over 90 million people had the Gmail app alone, these platforms cannot be overlooked in their importance to Google's mobile strategy. Also, offering these services for free further cuts into the market shares of Microsoft and Apple.
The June 2014 shift of mobile usage overtaking PC usage served to accelerate Google's mobile first strategy. Google AdWords has been revamped for mobile device screens. In May 2015, Google introduced online ordering from local restaurants found in mobile searches. This service is offered in partnership with Seamless, Grubhub, Delivery.com, BeyondMenu, MyPizza.com and Yelp's Eat24. This partnership has spurred speculation of a move to on-demand ordering in the hotel and car industry, fueled by "Google's current emphasis on mobile".
Google debuted their iPhone like Pixel smartphones in October 2016. These were the first phones marketed by Google to be completely designed, engineered, manufactured, and tested in-house. This announcement coincided with their exit from the Nexus program. Further concerns are present in the worry that major partners Samsung and LG, who utilize Google's Android platform, will become alienated over Pixel's use of the platform as well.
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, Google began their mobile strategy in 2009 following the 2007 and 2008 launches of iPhone and Android. The increasing use of mobile devices over PCs has further fueled their many endeavors in the area, with the October 2016 launch of their Pixel smartphone being their latest foray into the market.
Thank you for using Wonder! It is my sincere hope that this information has been helpful to you in understanding the timeline and reasoning behind Google's mobile strategies. Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of any further assistance.