What is Google?
Google, founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, is one of the most popular search engines in the world. Its stated mission is to make information universally accessible. The company is also known for its focus on online advertising, computer software, consumer electronics, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence.
While most people think of Google as the largest search engine, it actually has a much broader reach than that. Since the company’s founding, it has created a wide array of tools and services. These include the most popular desktop Internet browser, Chrome, and the mobile phone application, Android. There are many other products and services in the Google ecosystem, including Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, and YouTube.
In 2004, Google went public. This marked an unusual IPO for an internet company, because the stock was sold via a public auction. Afterward, it was added to the Standard and Poor’s 500 index. However, the company’s position as a dominant search engine led to criticism over its privacy concerns and monopoly power. Some groups of publishers filed lawsuits against the company.
As a result of its prominence, Google has been accused of censorship and antitrust violations. Additionally, some Internet users believe that the company uses other people’s intellectual property without their consent. Despite this, Google is the second-largest brand in the world.
During its early days, Google was just a web search engine, but it slot online eventually branched into other areas. In 2007, Google introduced a mobile operating system, Android. In 2006, it also launched Google Video. Eventually, it also started a digital assistant, Google Assistant. Another service, Google Books, was launched in 2005.
Google also provides an email service, called Gmail, and a voicemail feature, Google Voice. In addition, it offers endpoint management and smart spam filtering. All of these features can be controlled from a centralized console.
Google also has a mobile phone application, called Pixel, which was designed to be a high-end mobile device. Other services include Google Earth, a software program that lets users explore the planet from a virtual perspective, and Google Fiber, which offers fiber connections to the Internet.
Google has offices in several countries across the globe. Its headquarters are located in Mountain View, California. It also has offices in 29 other locations in the United States, including nine in California, three in Canada, and four in the U.S. Asia Pacific has 18 locations, and the company’s operations span Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East.
Throughout its history, Google has expanded into various industries, including mobile applications, hardware, and cloud computing. The company has built data centres that hold several hundred thousand computers.
The company’s core business is still search, but it has expanded into cloud computing, advertising, consumer electronics, and quantum computing. One of its latest products is an augmented reality headset, Google Glass.
Thousands of open-source Google products have been transferred to GitHub. Moreover, Google now offers cloud storage services, like Google Drive. You can store files in the cloud, and edit them as needed.
