Google Inc (GOOG)’s 5 Successful Businesses Other Than Web Advertising

Mobile

Advertising on mobile devices has not been an easy business for Google with competition heating up. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), a company that knows what consumers like to buy more than its competitors, is ramping up its advertising business. It’s possible that Amazon’s retail growth may slow, but that’s because they have not fully figured out mobile yet. Neither has Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), but they have made some smart acquisitions, mostly notably AdMob, to help them in mobile.

It appears that Google’s main competition is Amazon and Microsoft, two formidable competitors. Amazon appears to be a worthy investment, given that like Google, they are diversifying into mobile and enterprise quiet successfully.

Microsoft, on the other hand, should be concerned. Although the company is still doing well in enterprise offerings, they are in a worrisome spot in regards to mobile. Their main ad generator, Bing, seems to be doing as a solid alternative to Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), but Microsoft’s best days as an investment are probably behind it.

Google CEO Larry Page said it best during the earnings call that “incremental improvement is guaranteed to make you obsolete over time, especially in tech”. Some of these efforts outside of Google’s main ad business will succeed. Some could end up failing over time. But, the most important part is that they keep innovating in new ways to continue to stay relevant.

The article Google’s 5 Successful Businesses Other Than Web Advertising originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Daniel Cawrey.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.