Some interesting Larry Page quotes coming out of Google’s annual shareholder meeting from yesterday afternoon, courtesy of a Cowen and Company analyst Jim Friedland. Page is adamant to prevent his company from losing focus due to a Soviet-like bureaucracy which destroyed Nokia. The new CEO is going to re-create the startup culture at Google and ensure that the vast majority of resources are poured into search and advertising.
“We’re not betting the farm on speculative technology projects”, he said, adding there was still “a tremendous opportunity” in increasing ad relevance. Page told Wall Street analysts and shareholders that Google is committed to making money from free products, specifically citing Android as an example. He then switched into the “Moon shots” talk:
Our goal is to aim high to achieve important things to continue to grow this company.
So, at Google the Sun is still revolving around search, search, search (and ads, ads, ads). In that respect, Android is increasingly looking like the biggest growth opportunity in the long run…
At the moment, the company isn’t making any money from Android because they are giving it away to handset and tablet makers. Matter of fact, Microsoft could be the only company making money from Android right now, although for the wrong reasons. In the greater scheme of things, however, the more folks use Android devices the greater the number of adverts Google is going to put on their screens, thus indirectly monetizing those eyeballs. As a bonus, other officials at the shareholder meeting slipped this little note about Google’s upcoming phone support for advertisers and publishers.
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