Does Google Still Exist?

Google is an American online company which is most famously known as a huge search engine. Although the business originated as a research engine, it slowly branched out into many different areas like website building, software and search. The search part of the business is the most popular and in recent years the biggest part of the business has been the expansion into mobile phone applications. With Google extending into phones, will they expand into wearables?

A possible indication that they are planning to enter the wearables market is the fact that they recently bought the mapping software company, Sidewise. This acquisition is perhaps the first step in Google’s bid to be the one stop shop for all mobile device users. As part of the purchase, Google will take over Sidewise’s 30 patents and will be able to use these in future updates to their own mapping software. This could mean more Android devices in future which will most likely mean increased advertising revenue for Google.

There is also talk that Google may begin offering web storage alternatives using the very popular web-storage provider, Wayfair. Google recently bought the web storage company, and they will most likely be offering the same services that Wayfair offers, but for a much lesser price. Since Google bought Sidewise, they have shown no signs of shutting down their popular ad-supported Google Web-Service, which is what makes Google current so successful. The addition of web storage, coupled with their acquisition of Sidewise, could mean that they are looking to bring the functionality of their service inside of the mobile world.

If they were to add location information to their mobile service, is this a step in the right direction? The addition of location information would allow you to see where your next hotel or restaurant is. Is this a good thing? Sure it is, as this feature would allow you to better plan out your trips and vacations. The way Google stores your information, even if it is stored in a different place entirely, makes them seem like the real company that they are.

Google recently released a new service called “Google Now,” which they claim is faster, smarter, and more useful than the previous Google PageRank system. According to the release, Google Now will gather information from your online activity page, such as the pages you visit, the videos you watch, and information from all your Google+ activities. It will then combine all this information together into one cohesive location-based experience. Will this service be enough to keep up with the rapid expansion of mobile internet usage? Only time will tell.

Google’s other major product, called Google Maps, has been around for a while, and only recently was introduced to the public. This product includes Google’s street view technology, along with their related map services. This feature allows users to zoom in and out of any area of the world, and see the streets that they are familiar with, including places that they have visited. Google knows where you are, what you are doing, and what you want to do, but right now it does not include location history.