Most Google acquisitions have been so small as to barely attract notice, and the company has done little to highlight them. Of the 15 post-IPO acquisitions, four are startups specializing in mobile
software--a clear indication that Google is quietly planning some sort of assault on the mobile market. Dodgeball.com and Zipdash, Inc. provide social networking and traffic information for mobile
phones, while Reqwireless offers a mobile Web browser and email services. Piled together, these acquisitions could help Google move a step closer to the "smart phone" wanted by Larry Page. Analysts
say the mobile Web is a natural fit for Google. Piper Jaffray's Safa Rashtchy predicts that mobile search and other services will be a substantial portion of Google's business in the next five years.
Other acquisitions, like dMarc Broadcasting Inc. and Writely, are only small departures from its core business of searching the Internet and selling online ads. While Yahoo and eBay spend hundreds of
millions trying to buy their way into new territory, Google has tried to build its way slowly and methodically through the acquisition of startups. Since 2001, eBay has spent four times as much as
Google on mergers and acquisitions--including VoIP provider Skype and online payment service PayPal--while Yahoo has spent nearly three times as much as Google over the same period.
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