史蒂文 :: Release 2.0

Google has done some amazing things in the last few years and increasingly have tried to diversify its technology portfolio away from pure search into, i guess extended search - that is applying their technology in new areas (maps, books, blogs and so on).

The problem is that the more they diversify, the more they start to overlap with many of the companies using their technology. The latest (btw - see the cool LivePlasma navigation technology there - reminds me of thebrain.com) is Amazon who have now switched to Microsoft getting results from Microsoft Live and not Google.

This has nothing to do with the search engine. It is to do with Google looking to broker online book sales. Microsoft have stuck fairly closely to technology, perhaps portals being the fartherst they have ventured from that. Sure they have a book portal and an intention to launch MSN Book Search, but they've been careful not to stand on anyones toes.

The point is not that Google will rise or die on any one deal, but we're now starting to see their lead in search start to waver a little and a deal like this may have a small, motonically increasing ripple that one day may just tip. It really depends on where Google go next, how they are viewed by the companies using their technology and whether anyone sees them as a threat - they have stayed under the radar in this respect - until now.