Is Google A Leader?

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"What's Google up to?" is the favorite question of most magazine editors I know. It's also the backstory for a recent spate of querulous posts across the blogosphere. Fred ponders the role of Google in our world, and Jeff responds. From Fred's post: I think Google has become so mainstream and so ubiquitous in our everday Internet lives that its lost its mojo in some ways. That doesn't mean it won't continue to be hugely relevant, hugely profitable, and hugely important. But it does mean that there's a vacuum that can get filled by others who are small, innovative, new, and exciting. With respect to Google's position in the dealmaking universe, Fred has this to say (I'd love to know what informed this rant, but I imagine it's first hand experience): And finally, Google is acting like AOL all of a sudden. You can't do a deal with them without paying respect to their market position. That's fine and is always the case with a market leader, but it will come back to bite them because the deals they won't do will get done with others. And some of those deals are going to be important ones that will create new participants in the market who will grow and become more powerful over time. From Jeff's post (echoed by Dan Gillmor): I love Google and what it has done organizing the world's information and valuing links and taking the cooties off of citizens' media and changing the culture. But is it time to start fearing Google (with its caching and its opaque ad policy and its opaque news policy) or mock Google (as Fred does, for reverting to banner ads)? Just asking. It's hard to be the de factor leader in the tech/media space, and Google is clearly not...

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