News Analysis: Google could eventually supplant Microsoft as the company that people love to hate. If so, it could have its success to blame as much as anything else.
Over
the past 12 years since its inception, Google has become a trusted solution
for people around the globe. It has been the average person's search tool, it
has delivered its mobile software to a growing number of consumers, and, along
the way, it has offered an advertising platform that has helped it generate
billions of dollars each year.
But that growth and its increasing influence could have a
profound impact on the way Google is viewed going forward. It's successful, for
sure, but all that success is slowly but surely making some folks dislike the
search giant. And over time, just as Microsoft became the hated firm in the
1990s, Google could become the company that people love to hate for this
decade.
Here's why Google could become the company people love to
hate.
1. It's more Microsoft-like than ever
Microsoft has been one of the most disliked companies in the
technology industry for quite some time. Part of that is due to the success it
has had, but it's also due to Microsoft's willingness to exercise its dominance
over the years. Recently,
Google
has been more Microsoft-like in that respect. The company is successful,
and it's using its influence as a market leader to further its goals. That's
certainly good for business, but it's not necessarily good from a
consumer-opinion perspective.
2. It's huge
Big companies tend to get hit harder by consumers than those
that aren't as successful. A quick inventory of the strong opinions people have
about Microsoft and Apple are proof of that. But now Google is huge. And it
will likely only get bigger as time goes on. The bigger it gets, the more
people will take issue with the search giant. It's simply the way things go.
3. It has its tentacles in everything
Google is now asserting itself in a slew of different markets.
When the company first started, it was simply a search firm. Nowadays, Google
is a major force in advertising, the mobile market and the cloud. Its tentacles
are extending far beyond its core business. And as that happens,
expect
more folks to take issue with Google's decision to expand its operation.
4. Dominance breeds contempt
Google's success is nothing that the company should be ashamed
about. But that won't stop consumers and other folks from taking issue with it.
As Microsoft, Apple and other prominent companies have shown over the past few
years, whenever a company dominates a space, it's viewed as naturally hostile
to the interests of competing firms and perhaps even to consumer interests.
That might not actually be true. But that is the perception. And it's a tough
one for Google or any other company to shake.
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