Recently, Google(Alphabet Inc.) became the third tech company to pass the $1 trillion mark in terms of market cap. A feat previously achieved by Apple Inc., and Microsoft. That being said, it is safe to assume Google as one of the most sustainable companies in tech space. However, their sustainability in a highly competitive tech market is because of their innovative products. It is not like you can become a trillion-dollar company after releasing a product, say Chrome. But, you have to constantly engage with your consumers to see what all products would fulfill their demands. Having said that, these are the 10 products that Google released to scale up their market value. Do note that the products are not selected on the basis of their profits, but in accordance with their utility and innovation.
1. Blogger
We are starting the list with one of the most underrated Google products, Blogger. If you are a writer, you would know how good Blogger is. It allows budding writers and authors to self-publish. Developed by Pyra Labs in 1999, Google bought Blogger in 2003. This acquisition made Blogger a free platform, alleviating the charges imposed by Pyra labs for its premium services. Needless to say, that enabled Blogger to satisfy the requirements for many writers. As of now, there are over one million websites using Blogger, written in more than 20 different languages.
2. Advertising services
Google’s entry to digital advertising is revolutionary and has opened doors to many companies to market their product effectively. If you are seeing pop-ups, banners, or even video ads in particular, the chances are that they use AdSense. To clarify, Google AdSense is not the only advertising service. Google has 6 other products except for Google AdSense. These include Google Ads, Google Marketing Platform, Google Ad Manager, AdMob, Google Ad Grants, and Tag Manager. AdSense is also one of the revenue streams for the majority of YouTubers. Therefore, for its utility, we are putting Google’s exclusive line of Advertising services in our Top 10 list.
3. Google Translate
You would have definitely used Google’s instant translation tool at least once in your life. Launched in 2006, Google Translate currently supports more than 64 languages. In addition to translating words, the tool can also translate a web page instantly. Hence, this prudent innovation of Google has catapulted the success of their translation tool. Next time you want to have something translated, go for Google Translate instead of hiring a translator!
4. Google Docs
Google Docs is one of the best collaborative word processing tools available in the market. The idea for this product was conceived back in 2006 when Google acquired Upstartle, a software company. The acquisition took place shortly after Upstartle’s success in creating a web-based word processor called Writely. Although Docs went live for beta testing in 2009, Google thought of adding more features to it. In 2010, the company announced that it had acquired DocVerse, an online document collaboration company. It was this acquisition that boosted the utility of Docs. Furthermore, Google also bought QuickOffice to enable a productivity suite for mobile devices.
5. YouTube
Perhaps the best acquisition made by a tech company was bought by Google in 2006 for $1.65 billion. The site had only spent 1 year when Google announced to pay a lucrative amount on YouTube. Originally, YouTube was developed by former PayPal employees, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim in 2005. In 2020, it was revealed that YouTube streams 4 billion online videos every day, a sharp increase of 25% from 2019. Recently, an analyst predicted that YouTube is $30 billion. But, they estimated its value at around $300 billion, if it were to be a standalone company.
6. Google Chrome
This should be a no-brainer. Most likely, you would be reading this article on your chrome browser. Google Chrome was released in 2008, and it quickly found success for its speed and security settings. Recently, a study revealed that the browser occupies 68% of the worldwide browser market share. Although this is 4% short from its 72% share in 2018, the browser still remains the best one available in the market. If Sergey and Larry hadn’t hired Mozilla Firefox developers to build a demonstration of a cross-platform web browser, Chrome wouldn’t have existed. According to reports, it took Google around 4 years to develop Chrome.
7. Android
Among the three operating systems built and released by Google, Android is the best one to date. Built to serve smartphones, Android is a Linux-based operating system that was announced by Google in the year 2007. The very first commercial Android handset was the HTC Dream. Since its inception, Android is free and open-source software whose code is entitled AOSP or Android Open Source Project. It is licensed under the Apache license. According to a study conducted in 2017, Android has over 2 billion monthly users. Hence, Android is the largest installed base of any operating system.
8. Google Maps
Even though Apple Inc. couldn’t find success in web mapping services, Google excelled in it. Perhaps the best utility product that Google has released to date, Google Maps has helped a lot of travelers to find their way. If you are planning for a trip or are in an unknown tourist location, chances are that you would first launch your Maps app. But, you are not alone. There are 1 billion people every month using this service. Over time, Google has updated the application to support 360° interactive panoramic views as well as satellite imagery. As a result, you wouldn’t want to travel across the globe to spend your vacation. Instead, you can use a VR headset and Google Maps to view!
9. Google Search
Google Search Google’s core product, and is the reason why the company grew into a tech giant. Since its inception in 1997, Google Search has become the most used web search engine with a whopping 92.67% market share in the worldwide web. In addition to that, it receives 5.4 billion queries per day, the most by any search engine. Like any other Google product, Google Search has also undergone a series of updates. The best one being the Google Voice Search option and the knowledge graph semantic search. Furthermore, you can also search by images, this is Google’s reverse image search!
10. Gmail
Gmail is Google’s entry to the email service sector. Arguably the best one yet, Gmail has a total of 1.5 billion users around the world. This number shows how good this product is. At the time of launch, Gmail offered a 1 Gigabyte storage capacity for each user. At that time, this was the most offered by any company. Since then, through a series of updates, the number has risen to 15 Gigabytes. In addition to that, you can send files with up to 50 megabytes in size. In case you want to send larger files, you can use Google Drive. Furthermore, Gmail automatically scans emails for spam, making it easier for you to manage your inbox.
