The Google suite of web based apps got a little wider today, with the beta release of a spreadsheet program. This shot is directly at Excel. Greg Sterling is quoted as saying "Google is offering a suite of services that spans your own private data and public information online".
I get the strategy, but again (risking sounding like a broken record..or to update the analogy, skipping mp3) I worry that Google is so focused on matching Microsoft in every product category that they're not paying enough attention to their core business, search. They have a word processing app, a calendar app, email and now a spread sheet. Trust me, there'll be more.
As I said in a previous post, Google is yet to gain market leader status in any of the off shoots they've spun off. I think Google may have drunk a little too much of their own kool aid, believing if something rolls out with the Google label on it, people will use it. In the cases cited, the people have said....mmm...maybe....maybe not.
Google is attacking a behometh here, with incredible market domination in every single category. Sure, the idea of web based apps that can integrate with publically available information is intriguing, but Google is not unique in this regard. That's the same territory that Windows Live is moving into.
Look at conventional wisdom. I know Google eschews convention wisdom, but the fact is it's conventional wisdom because it's been proven to be right over time.
Jack Welch of GE said if you can't be Number 1 or 2 in a business, get out of it. The same strategy has been used effectively by Walgreen's and Kimberly Clark. Google's strategy seems to be get into every business, no matter what, and if you're in enough places, you'll win.
Another dusty nugget. Attack from a position of strength. In fact, Sun Tzu had a lot to say on the subject, including "Generally the one who first occupies the battlefield awaiting the enemy is at ease; the one who comes later and rushes into battle is fatigued."
Google is riding high now, but they have to be careful not to fatigue their resources trying to fight Microsoft where they're strongest. Attack where they aren't.
Look at it this way. Google is trying to fight Microsoft on multiple fronts. In each case, Microsoft is the established and dominant player, generating revenue from the product line, with the tremendous benefit of customer inertia on their side.
Microsoft, on the other hand, has the advantage of marshalling all their resources on one front, search. That's Google's single revenue channel, or, to keep with the battlefield analogy, their single supply line. If Microsoft can choke that off, even a little, Google's stocks plummet, the revenue drops and their resources disappear.
Granted, Microsoft hasn't done a great job of that yet, but when you have an army as huge as Microsoft gathered on your main frontier making noises about attacking, you don't want to be somewhere else.