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Google “Instant Pages” for Chrome tells more about direction than features

Google Instant

Google Instant

This could also be titled, “How Larry Page is starting to run Google more like Steve Jobs would.”

Google has operated in many ways like Microsoft and other tech companies that are going after a bunch of things at once. It worked for them better than most, but there were still too many failures and distractions to keep the company from achieving its goals. Things have changed with Larry Page at the helm and as a result, the company seems more focused.

It seems more like Apple.

The latest addition to the Google feature list is Instant Pages for Chrome. The concept is very simple – when a user does a search and Google is confident that the first result on the search is the one that the searcher is looking for, they begin preloading it into Chrome making it appear instantly when clicked. Here’s the video. The analysis of what it represents follows:

Google is first and foremost a search company. They have been outwardly neutral over the years, claiming that the algorithm that they use and the way they present results are not self-serving. This year and specifically under Page, Google has shifted towards being more aggressive with promotions of their own products and services while using other services as a hook.

In this case, the product is Chrome. Outwardly it would seem that it make sense – Chrome is theirs and it’s easier to develop technology on one’s own platform. In reality, that’s not the whole truth. Google could very easily test this on Chrome and roll out the product as eventually available on any browser. The devil is in the details.

Google has been promoting Chrome’s speed for a while. This adds to that. It’s subtle, but Google in the past would roll out this type of product on Chrome first, mentioning how it’s starting there and focusing the video on the service itself. This time, they are making it very clear that this is a service specifically designed for Chrome, mentioning that it will be pre-installed.

The distinction is small but it goes towards understanding the general Apple-esque shift in the way Google is doing things. Everything that they’ve been pushing out over the last few months from Google+ to Google Places changes have been clearly focused on promoting Google products and services. That wasn’t the case in the past when Google was trying to be a neutral, do-no-evil company.

Are they “doing more evil” now? No. They’re just making better business moves. Page is running the company much more like how Jobs runs Apple.

What do you think?

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Written by JD Rucker

JD Rucker is Editor at Soshable, a Social Media Marketing Blog. He is a Christian, a husband, a father, and founder of both Judeo Christian Church and Dealer Authority. He drinks a lot of coffee, usually in the form of a 5-shot espresso over ice. Find him on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

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