IMHO, Google is well poised to continue to control entry search, but consumers do not intuit Google to be their application/destination. Consumers go to Google to be shown where to do, and the space is wide open for the growth of the next layer of web and mobile applications which incorporate deep data, contextual relevance and tailored user experiences.

“One stop shopping” rarely defines the way markets evolve.

this was really the question i was trying to ask Sergey at Web 2.0 — namely, it would be helpful to Google and the rest of the world for them to more clearly define the platform they are building, and where they want others to build on top of it.

if they continue to be so secretive, many people will fear partnering with them / working with them in the same ways they used to fear working with Microsoft… and no one wants to get partnered to death.

on the other hand, if Google decided they wanted to build the world’s largest open access hosted database infrastructure, with the promise that everyone (both inside & outside the company) would have equal access to write applications on that platform, i think they’d have solid story to tell the world, and to all the entrepreneurs and developers out there… not to mention a story that would likely make Microsoft very, very nervous.

while there may be a few walled gardens that remain walled, in the future those folks will become more & more isolated (unless they have some special access to data, and in general that’s not the case). AOL is moving away from that model, and the growth of the structured web will continue to pressure even players like Google to emulate more transparency.

- dave mcclure
http://www.SimplyHired.com