Google is well-known for its web search service, which is a major factor of the company’s success. As of December 2006, Google is the most used search engine on the web with a 50.8% market share, ahead of Yahoo! (23.6%) and Live Search (8.4%). Google indexes billions of Web pages, so that users can search for the information they desire, through the use of keywords and operators. Google has also employed the Web Search technology into other search services, including Image Search, Google News, the price comparison site Google Product Search, the interactive Usenet archive Google Groups, Google Maps and more.
In 2004, Google launched its own free web-based email service, known as Gmail. Gmail features spam filtering technology and the capability to use Google technology to search email. The service generates revenue by displaying advertisements from the AdWords service that are tailored to the content of the email messages displayed on screen.
In early 2006, the company launched Google Video, which not only allows users to search and view freely available videos, but also offers users and media publishers the ability to publish their content, including television shows on CBS, NBA basketball games, and music videos. In August 2007, Google announced that it would shut down its video rental and sale program and offer Google Checkout credits to consumers who had purchased videos to own.
Google has also developed several desktop applications, including Google Earth, an interactive mapping program powered by satellite imagery that covers the vast majority of the earth. Google Earth is generally considered to be remarkably accurate and extremely detailed. For example, some major cities (Las Vegas, NV, USA for example) have such detailed images that one can zoom in close enough to read the license plates on cars on a street. Consequently, there have been some concerns about national security implications. Specifically, some countries and militaries contend the software can be used to pinpoint with near-precision accuracy the physical location of critical infrastructure, commercial and residential buildings, bases, government agencies, and so on. However, the satellite images are not necessarily frequently updated, and all of them are available at no charge through other products and even government sources (NASA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, for example.) Some counter this argument by stating that Google Earth makes it easier to access and research the images.
Many other products are available through Google Labs, which is a collection of incomplete applications that are still being tested for use by the general public.
Google has promoted their products in various ways. In London, Google Space was set-up in Heathrow Airport, showcasing several products, including Gmail, Google Earth and Picasa. Also, a similar page was launched for American college students, under the name College Life, Powered by Google.
In 2007, some reports surfaced that Google was planning the release of its own mobile phone, possibly a competitor to Apple’s iPhone. The project may be a collaboration between Google and Orange, HTC, Samsung, or another manufacturer. However, very little is known about the project and most of the information available is speculation.
Enterprise products
In 2007, Google launched Google Apps Premium Edition, a software suite for businesses that provides e-mail, instant messaging, calendar, word processing, as well as a spreadsheet program.[48] This product is targeted primarily at the business user, and intended to compete directly versus Microsoft’s Office suite, with a price of approximately USD50 per user per year compared to USD500 per user for Microsoft Office. A large implementation of Google Apps with 38,000 users is at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.