No matter which industry you care to analyse, there are always one or two brands that dominate the landscape. This embodies the nature of competition within an open market, where brands such as Facebook, Google and Coca-Cola lead their markets gradually evolve alongside persistent, second tier rivals.
While you may consider brands such as Facebook and Google to be safer in their positions than most, however, both are facing significant challenges in the current market. There are suggestions that paid marketing through Facebook may be about to reach its saturation point after the company restricted business users’ organic reach, for example, while Google itself is facing a myriad of legal and technological challenges in 2015.
How Antitrust Investigations are Impacting on Google
Before we start exploring this in greater detail, it is important to note that Google remains a dominant and innovative market player. It retains an estimated market share of 90% when it comes to online searches, for example, while the company is also believe to have an annual turnover in the region of $60 billion. When you also consider that Google has used its wealth and reach to successfully procure progressive outlets such as YouTube, you have a picture of robust health and an incredible diversity of revenue streams.
This virtual empire is under huge threat, however, thanks primarily to an international antitrust investigation currently being conducted in Europe. It began when documents revealed that Google had developed contracts which implored phone makers to bundle in branded services when adopting its Android operating system, forcing them to include services such as Google Search and Maps at the expense of third party alternatives. This became the basis for a global antitrust complaint that has been brought to the EU by FairSearch, which claims that Google’s Android practices are opposed to fair trade and anti-competitive.
Market Factors and the Lessons that Business Owners should Learn
Second tier technology firms such Microsoft and Oracle have adopted an aggressive approach towards challenging Google, and this underlines the fact that a growing number of brands are keen to capitalize on their misfortune. This number includes Apple, which is one of the few firms that have the scope and the resources to potentially supersede Google’s dominance. Apple has also made a concerted effort to distance itself from Google as a technology partner, enabling its features on the Bing search engine and pledging to launch its next iOS platform with the relatively unheralded service DuckDuckGo. The fact that this new search engine includes robust privacy measures for users is also telling, as it reinforces the legal issues facing Google in the European market.
From a business perspective, the problems facing Google reveal several core lessons. The first is that significant growth brings huge infrastructure challenges, while it also sets a benchmark for rival companies to challenge, reach and ultimately supersede. This can happen to companies of any size, depending on their level of innovation and the nature of the market that they operate in. Above all else, it is crucial that business owners develop and refine their business model as they expand, ensuring that it is profitable, compliant with international trade laws and robust enough to withstand intensified market competition.
From Google’s own perspective, 2015 is threatening to be a difficult and costly year. With rival brands such as Apple increasingly aggressive when targeting new markets and a high profile antitrust investigation still ongoing, the company will need to be strong and patient in the quest for future success.
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: Google, Antitrust And The Rise Of Apple: How Will It Impact On Your Business?
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