Google: mobile searching to only be profitable in the long term

There is still a long way to go until mobile searching represents a significant share of Google’s revenue according to Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt, but this remains one of the company’s long term aims.

By releasing their mobile OS Android, Google has created their own growth sector which will allow them to generate additional revenue. While Android is currently in a growth phase, mobile searching (which is not linked only to Android) is still far from being a source of significant revenue.

According to Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, it will take a long time until mobile searching will represent a consequent revenue stream, even if this market is quickly growing in importance. Mobile searching from Android handsets tripled in the first half of 2010 compared to 12 months earlier.

"Eventually we think mobile will be the majority of the searches and the majority of the revenue, but it's a long time", he stated during a press conference in San Francisco.


Social network, Google’s missing piece of the puzzle?
This articulation between fixed Internet searching and mobile searching is at the heart of Google’s long term strategy – mobile searching and advertising, including the searching of social networks which users are now using more frequently to get feedback and product information from other consumers before making decisions about what to buy.

Facebook and Twitter are currently kings of this domain, while Google hasn’t yet managed to deploy a dynamic offering that works on the same level. This hasn’t prevented Eric Schmidt from closely following Twitters efforts in creating a viable economic model which is based on advertising.

Google has already integrated tweets into their search pages, while rumours that they would purchase a social network also regularly crop up as it would be easier for the search giant to acquire a company rather than create their own.