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Semel Dismisses Google Catchup Efforts
By David Utter
Expert Author
Article Date: 2005-10-06
Yahoo CEO Terry Semel hasn't found much to interest him within Google's recent developments.
Google has a nice search product, and has been a pioneer in online search according to Mr. Semel, who spoke at a conference about Yahoo's rival today. As far as the rest of the company's offerings, well, they have a ways to go to catchup to Yahoo.
New features churned out by Google's Labs and via acquisitions have given it photo sharing, personal blogs, email, and voice and text messaging. An AP report noted how Mr. Semel said Google looks "more and more like a portal. And as a portal, it probably would be rated No. 4."
Mr. Semel probably places his firm at number one on that list, and tosses AOL and MSN in the two and three slots in no particular order. Considering Mr. Semel's general avoidance of publicly discussing Google, his response at the Q and A session was practically d'Artagnan siding with Athos, Porthos, and Aramis against Cardinal Richelieu's men.
Google's response to Mr. Semel's comments, via spokesperson Lynn Fox, was gracious: "We appreciate recognition of Google's leadership in search. It's a highly competitive industry, and that ultimately benefits users." (Darn, and I was hoping for a brief but furious Semel-Schmidt clash of steel near the Carmes-Deschaux, with Dick Parsons and Steve Ballmer as their seconds.)
Mr. Semel didn't mention the one thing Google truly lacks, if indeed it wants to be a portal company along with all the other ambitions the media has ascribed to it. That thing would be a content library. Not just a user-contributed library, either, but the sort of consumer-focused, high-production value content that major Hollywood studios develop.
Without content, Google's a great toolmaker. With it, Google could be a portal competitor. Today that's just not the case. Tomorrow, who knows.
About the Author:
David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.
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