GoogleBlogoscoped reports that Google CEO Dr. Eric Schmidt discussed “Perspectives on the Information Industry” at the University of Washington. The 1-hour recording from May 26, 2005, is available as Windows Media or Quicktime file.
From the ResearchChannel :
“In this special colloquia, Dr. Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer of Google in Redwood City, California discusses the information industry and Google’s approach to innovation. Dr. Schmidt has a 25-year record of achievement as an Internet strategist, entrepreneur and developer of great technologies. Since taking the helm at Google, he has focused on building the corporate infrastructure needed to maintain Google’s rapid growth as a company and on ensuring that quality remains high while product development cycle times are kept to a minimum. Previously, Dr. Schmidt was chief executive and chairman of software maker Novell, and before that was chief technology officer at Sun Microsystems.”
Keynotes :
Each wave of technology creates a set of new companies that then become iconic. New companies represent the next wave, and each wave is bigger than the previous one.
IBM had its mainframes and solved data-processing problems for major corporations, Intel and Microsoft together brought PC’s to individuals and homes. Google is associated with the internet. And more specifically ‘what you can build on top’ of internet.
Eric Schmidt points to a satellite map from ‘earth by night’, but then with a global night. He points out lighted spots around the world and explains these lights are caused by ‘electricity’. The map that shows Google’s internet penetration is about the same. Google is wherever there is electrical current. So… If you’re wondering about places that don’t generate search queries etc, you should first check if there’s any electricity at all.
As for evolutions : The US nearly generates 1/3 of the search entries in Google, the rest is of foreign origin. The future belongs to China, the largest market yet to become fully integrated.
Funny remark : Google’s most entered keyword is ‘Britney Spears’, but it has 490 different ways of spelling. Google has a very complicated code that ’suggests’ the correct spelling. That’s a good thing to wonder about. The spelling corrector is a universal thing. For all supported languages. What a keen invention to always have the right answer at hand and to recognize misspelled entries. Excellent piece of code.
Google’s biggest problem is the heat caused by the many computers. The location of Google’s infoplexes are also in the places with the cheapest electricity. I think one day, Google will own a powerplant to generate it’s own electricity. Just in case the world didn’t produce enough to power the searches.
About Google Video :
(only) 10% is porn, leaving 90% of the uploads to be verified.
The biggest problem is the low/bad quality of the uploaded movies.
Only 10% (of the 90% remaining) is of a decent and usable quality.
Schmidt also points out the development direction of Google’s personalized homepage, possibly integrating video and imaging in the near future.
The Future of Search
Search goes beyond the web. It’s a market that includes movies, books, radio, television, everything printed or written, all the journals…
Yahoo! is cross integrating relatively propriatory content networks.
MSN isn’t a significant player yet, but Schmidt pointed out they’re planning to embed search in every single bit on a pc screen. Be aware.
Google plans to index the world. Pure search, large scale, no own content.
Interesting issue at : 54′50”
NYT is starting to charge for editorial content, …
“In a world where companies realise that they actually have a chance to make money from content, does Google then become middleman for that content and involved in the charging [...]?”
You should listen to Schmidt’s full reply for this one, it’s in the last minutes of the event, but it’s a very good point. Essentially it comes down to this :
The NYT has the right to use the traffic Google is sending to its site for ‘upselling’. There’s no harm done in that. Schmidt points to the example of the WSJ, of which Google publishes enough content to make you interested, and then refers you to the WSJ where you have to sign up and become a member. That’s the process of upselling.
via [GoogleBlogoscoped]
link to the video on the [ResearchChannel]