Quotes from an article in The Economist about Google’s ability to sustain its market-share.

“For Google to stay permanently ahead of other search-engine technologies is almost impossible, since it takes so little—only a bright idea by another set of geeks—to lose the lead.”

“Yahoo!, in fact, will probably be the first to attack. It now … has under its own roof all the elements of the business model that made Google such a success.

“Even more frightening … Microsoft smells blood. It is currently working on its own search algorithm, which it hopes to make public early next year, around the probable time of Google’s share listing.”

I do feel that Google’s almost utilitarian design, core focus and loyal user-base certainly factor significantly in its market-share dominance, but as was mentioned in the article, Netscape had much of that as well. So at best, Google’s added advantages are short-term assets.

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