You may think of Google as a Web search company.
Google CEO Larry Page does not. He thinks of Google as a technology company.
He believes Google’s mission is to identify human problems than can be solved with technology and then come up with the technologies that solve those problems.
It’s a pretty broad mission.
Here’s a list of available and under development Google products:
- An Internet search engine.
- Web email.
- A news aggregator.
- Calendar software.
- A suite of productivity applications, including spreadsheet, word-processing, and photo-editing software.
- Cloud storage for consumers
- Cloud storage for businesses.
- Cloud computing for businesses.
- A website for watching Internet videos.
- A web browser.
- A smartphone/tablet operating system.
- A thermostat.
- Unknown life-extending technologies.
- Computerized contact lenses
- Robot assistants
- Self-driving cars
- “A spoon designed to make life easier for people with diseases such as Parkinson’s.”
- A home video monitoring system.
- High-speed Internet service.
- Laptop computers.
- Desktop computers.
- A dongle that puts Internet video on your TV.
- Balloons that broadcast Internet signal.
- Drones that deliver goods to homes.
- Computers you wear like glasses.
- Airborne wind turbines.
- A digital collection of all the world’s books.
- A map of the world.
- A collection of photographs of every street in the world.
- A social network.
- Software for creating and maintaining blogs.
- An online video rental store.
- An online software store.
- A live-updating database of equities and financial news.
- A service that allows you to pay for things with your phone.
- A language translation service.
- A phone number replacement service.
- Video-conferencing software.
BONUS: According to The Information’s Amir Efrati, Larry Page also wants to…
- Fix Wall Street.
- Fix airports.
- Know exactly where shoppers are in stores, so that Google can tell them what products are available in the aisle they are walking down.
Some of the products on this list are obviously related to Google’s core business, Web search. Chrome and Android assure that a Google search bar is never far from almost all Web users.
But it’s a pretty wild and varied list. Who knew that Google made a spoon?
So far, shareholders are not punishing Page for a lack of focus. Google is up more than 6% this year.
Obviously, that’s not because of the robots or contact lenses Google is working on.
It’s because Google has the world’s most lucrative Internet business pumping the place full of cash: search advertising.
There is little reason to worry that search advertising will go away any time soon.
There is some reason to worry it will stop growing so fast, though!
People are using the Internet on their phones more than they used to.
And, when people use the Internet on their phones, they are increasingly using apps instead of the Web.
But don’t worry about any of that, Larry! The rest of us can’t wait for self-driving cars.
