Is Google For real?

I am a huge fan of Google and it astounds me how this company that made no money a little over 10 years ago, continues to innovate new ways to make money. It’s impossible to imagine that a few years ago; criticism over the dot com bubble and especially towards Google was so heated because many believed it to be just another Internet company that will never make money.

Things were so bad that when they needed employees, all they could offer were stock options and the company took loans to fund their vision which at the time, they did not know how it would make money. Those days are long gone and the company, overnight, turned its owners into billionaires and employees into millionaires when it got listed on the stock exchange.

In July 2008, the company took out a patent to sell advertising space on Google maps application. They plan to identify buildings, posters, signs and billboards in images generated when using the application and project advertiser messages. For instance, Java coffee house on Koinange Street can bid to have their adverts on their coffee house as projected on Google maps even though in reality there is nothing on the street. Interested advertisers will have to bid for the space. That completely blew me away!

In Ocean 12 the movie, there is a story line used by George Clooney and his gang, about a Chinese tycoon who bought real estate in the air and everyone thought he was crazy. But every time someone had to build a tall building, they had to pay him off. The entrepreneurs behind Google are now selling virtual real estate!

This just shows you there is infinite opportunity and possibility all around us.