While each new Google product--like the new Google Checkout, for example--is released to a ton of fanfare,
Business Week points out that not one of Google's non-search-related products is a
market leader. Remember Google Talk, the instant messaging application the tech giant released last year? MSN Messenger leads that market, with AOL and Yahoo close behind. Last month, Google's launch
of online spreadsheet software was supposed to leave Microsoft quaking about the future of Excel--and most recently, Google Checkout has been tipped as the beginning of the end for eBay's PayPal. Why
do these products get so much hype? And why is it assumed that they will race straight to the top? Out of some two dozen new products released in the last four years, Google has yet to establish a
market leader out of any of them. Maybe it's because we're constantly reminded of how badly Google chews up its competition in search. Google Talk ranks tenth among IM platforms; Google Finance, 40th
among financial news sites; and Google Gmail only has about a quarter of the usage of MSN and Yahoo mail, the article says. Said one venture capital investor: "People give Google the victory in the
beginning and don't show up later to notice that things didn't go anywhere." Later, he warned investors that "Google has product ADD. They don't know why they're getting into all of these products.
They have fantastic cash flow but terrible discipline on products...It's a dangerous combination." Nevertheless, some financial analysts expect a few of Google's many new products to take hold, saying
its stock price at $400 per share is undervalued. One of the problems it has with its products is a lack of visibility. Google's minimalist home page doesn't show off its plethora of other offerings.
That lack of exposure means that just 10 percent of Google visitors use it for anything other than search, says Hitwise, a traffic measurement firm.
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