Why can't they sell products and be
like an Apple, Oracle, Microsoft.
Econ 101 on HN again.
Aside from what Google's doing. You're assuming that the value someone personally derives from using something is the value other people derive from pushing it to them.
I.e. you have ads on Google, some of which cost >$10. To the companies paying for them that makes sense, because they might be selling a product that costs $500-1000, with say 10% conversion.
But a user is never going to be persuaded to pay >$10 simply to click a link.
So yes, there are some things Google does for free that they could be selling, but a) they may not be easy to sell directly b) even if people bought them it wouldn't make up the difference they make from ads, because the value isn't on the consumer side, it's on the advertiser's side.
Interesting, even though it's now 5 years old. I'd be interested in the evolution. Also, a pie chart? Really? I can't fathom who thought it'd be a good idea…
For mesothelioma, an in-person referral from a doctor to an attorney is worth well over $10,000. Of course the doctor doesn't get paid until after the successful suit - but even discounting the time value of money, it's easy to see how advertising at $50/click could work out.
Nobody was questioning the economics, it's obvious why they do what they do. I was questioning the kind of company Google wants to be. It can be greater (in my eyes anyway). For example, Apple can still generate phenomenal profits just on the basis of their product and doesn't need to resort to putting ads everywhere.
When you have optimized your company structure, culture etc for one type of output, it is not easy to do things that are entirely different. It will either deliver a compromised "new" output, or (even worse), compromise the output that is the mainstay of the company.
Google could not just become a wildly profitable Apple-style "hardware first" company overnight (or, arguably, ever).
Conversely, we have all seen Apple struggling to deliver cloud services that are reliable and desirable (beyond their integration into Apple's ecosystem) since the days of iTools and MobileMe..
Aside from what Google's doing. You're assuming that the value someone personally derives from using something is the value other people derive from pushing it to them.
I.e. you have ads on Google, some of which cost >$10. To the companies paying for them that makes sense, because they might be selling a product that costs $500-1000, with say 10% conversion.
But a user is never going to be persuaded to pay >$10 simply to click a link.
So yes, there are some things Google does for free that they could be selling, but a) they may not be easy to sell directly b) even if people bought them it wouldn't make up the difference they make from ads, because the value isn't on the consumer side, it's on the advertiser's side.