Google OS Coming Out of Beta

Google’s Chrome Web browser is really an operating system in disguise. Google’s ambition is to build an ecosystem that uses Chrome and Google Gears in a world of HTML and javascript. The key to Google building critical mass behind this effort will be to get broad and pervasive distribution of the Chrome browser. To do this they are going to need to pre-install it on OEM machines. Google is finding out that no OEM on the planet will ship anything that is still in beta. Last time I checked Gmail is still in beta after 4 years.

Google’s Chrome Web browser (aka Google OS) is coming out of beta testing according to a TechCrunch report. Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president of user experience, told TechCruch’s Michael Arrington that it would be coming out of beta soon but no date was given.

Google’s strategy with Chrome is puzzling in many ways. Firefox is an open source Web browser with just over 20% market share world wide. Google is a big financial contributor to the Mozilla organization that builds Firefox. Yet Google takes an approach that makes them start at a base of zero and directly compete with one of their biggest partners. More fragmentation will make it far more difficult to galvanize the developer community around a platform. Google will have a long uphill battle to fight on this one.

Google’s Android Party Gets Bigger

Today Google’s Android party got a lot bigger. Fourteen of the world’s largest mobile phone and chip makers, including Sony Ericsson, Vodafone Group, and ARM Holdings joined the Open Handset Alliance and pledged support for Google’s Android platform. Almost all of these members had existing Linux platforms they supported. Its not surprising that they are interested in using a common Linux platform that is more standardized and easier to support. Not to mention the big G is backing it.

Google Three Hours From Antitrust Case

Sanford Litvack, the hired gun for DOJ, was just three hours from filing the formal antitrust compliant against Google (GOOG) and Yahoo (YHOO). In an interview with The AM Law Daily, Litvack says, “We were going to file the complaint at a certain time during the day. We told them and three hours before, they told us they were abandoning the agreement.”

The never-filed government complaint would have charged that the agreement violated Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act. Litvack went on to say, “It would have ended up also alleging that Google had a monopoly and that [the advertising pact] would have furthered their monopoly.” Litvack clearly wanted this to happen, “Of course I was looking forward to it,” he says. “We felt pretty good about it, we felt pretty confident.” 

Google certainly avoided a near disaster but it was foolish from the very beginning to even pursue the deal. When you have over 70% market share in the search business, you already have monopolistic network effects that will make it nearly impossible for anyone to compete with you. Why bother locking up an extra 20% and awaking the sleeping giant, the DOJ.

Google Dances Around Cutting Back

Google (GOOG) has been dancing around cutting back on spending and projects with no future revenue opportunity for a long time. But it seems like the are finally changing their tune. With all the economic carnage happening on Wall Street it seems prudent that some things would change at Google. WSJ quoted Google CEO Eric Schmidt, saying “Projects that haven’t really caught on” and “aren’t really that exciting.”  are not going to get prioritized for resources. He went on to explain that Google wants to “prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business.”

This is coupled with a string of news that Google is cutting back in other ways from reducing the 10K contractors working for Google to curtailing lavish perks like abundant food for employees. I also heard from people inside Google that they are being asked to create budgets for the first time. It looks like the world is coming to a end and Google has to stop partying like its 1999.

Google Looks At Paying For Chrome Distribution

Google (GOOG) is reportedly thinking about doing deals with PC makers to have its Chrome Browser pre-installed on new computers. This is not going to come cheap. PC makers have created a multi billion dollar business out of charging companies to pre-install software on new PCs. If Google does these kinds of pay to play deals, they will certainly bundle other services and software into the deal, most notably the Google Toolbar, Gmail, and Google Apps.

According to a report in The Times, Google will likely start working those deals after it pulls the “beta” label from Chrome in early 2009. This will definitely up the ante on the browser wars. This is a battle that for many has been long over since Microsoft decimated Netscape in the 90s. Even with Firefox eroding some of Microsoft Internet Explorer’s market share the war seemed to be long over. But Google seems to be taking another shot at it and have plenty of resources to pay for disribution. Lets see how long Google is committed to the browser business. If its anything like Lively, Chrome will be killed before the end of the year.

Google Kids Start to Grow Up

Times must be starting to get tough at Google (GOOG). They are actually cancelling a project. Today, Google decided to shut down Lively which they launch this summer. Lively allowed people to create avatars and virtual rooms which they could embed in blogs and other Web pages. They tried to capitalize on all the hype around Second Life, but the project never really picked up steam.

What is most interesting is how fast they cancelled this project. They annouce it in July and cancel it in November. They must be taking notes from Microsoft which recently did something similar when they cancel Microsoft Equipt.

Google obviously is not taking a long-term approach to this space. Google said on their official blog “It has been a tough decision, but we want to ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business.” With their stock price losing over 400 points since January it seems that the Google boys are being forced to grow up and stop investing in so many money losing projects. Maybe they should also put their Dornier Alpha Jet on eBay and stop running a company like they are Peter Pan and the lost boys.

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