There is no better way to spend extra money than purchasing new companies. Well, at least, this is what Google did. Especially if the new company just started operating and you know very well that it will be a huge success. If they are willing to sell, why not grab the chance?
Unfortunately, many of these companies that got bought over die a quick and sudden death in the hands of their new owners. More often than not, nobody ever seen or heard anything about these companies or their products again. Fortunately for us though, when Google took over Android Inc, this predicament did not happen to them.
Instead, what happened was exactly the opposite. The selected few that knew about Android Inc and its capabilities knew that this company had some of the most advanced software for mobile at that time, and Google saw this as an opportunity.
Without truly knowing how successful Android will become, Andy Rubin, one of the founders of Android Inc Company, and now VP of Engineering for Google, has this to say in 2003 regarding the company and the product.
“There was tremendous potential in developing smarter mobile devices that are more aware of its owner's location and preferences. If people are smart, that information starts getting aggregated into consumer products….”
As time went on however, it was not Google which revolutionized the mobile smartphone. Rather, it was Apple that went on to launch the iPhone and which in turn become a huge success globally. Rumors become increasingly rampant that Google, in a bid to challenge the status quo, would be coming out with their own handset. A phone that will even exceed the performance of iPhone! Many were guessing that we will see the birth of a Google phone soon – one that will work around location-based services and implement a whole host of Google Labs' ideas, as well as Google Maps and GMail.
There was a perception that with the resources and expertise that Google had at their disposal, it was just a matter of time before they come up with something better and more advanced than what was in the market at that time. This was something that the media clung to and every small update or news was met with immense speculations.
However, not even the media can anticipate what Google will announce on 5th November 2007.
More to come in Part 2
