Google is now mostly focusing on giving its corporate users a better and secured experience in search and related web services. The recent acquisition of Postini for $625 million confirms that strategy. I am not an expert in Spam prevention and here is an interesting point of view of a venture capitalist who knows quite a bit about it. If i had to give a simplified view of how i split my business time, it would say that i spend it between my customers and my computer. Guess what : on my computer, the key services are not anymore the word processor, the spreadsheet, and any other tools altough i am a heavy user. These have become commodities to me. The added value on the product is not sufficient to prevent me from shifting to other applications. The last barrier is security – an absolute confidence in the confidentiality of the web services i would be using and protection of my digital identity with initiatives like the Todeka Project. Research shows that most corporate users are weary to use these online services for security reasons and Google’s external and internal growth is specificcally adressing that issue and will contribute to strenghten their leadership away from Microsoft’s. Eric Schmidt, Google’s Chairman and CEO said in a statement that:
With this transaction, we’re reinforcing our commitment to delivering compelling hosted applications to businesses of all sizes. With the addition of Postini, our apps are not just simple and appealing to users — they can also streamline the complex information security mandates within these organizations.
Jacques says that Google now compeets heads-on with Microsoft. In any case, it clearly is a foot in Microsoft’s business.