Google It

As Americans we are used to seeing Google everywhere. For years, as soon as we logged onto the internet on our computers we would see a product of Google in their search engine. People who still see Google as just a search engine would be missing the majority of what Google does. They also own Youtube, have their own web browser, and have Google news, maps, and many more internet sites. Now the genius of Google is that, to the consumer, their products are completely free. They rely on add revenue to make money. I personally use Google every day of my life. I have Gmail, Picasa, and I am even blogging on a Google's Blogger and I do not pay them a cent. In the recent years Google has been expanding to outside of their traditional internet realm. They have recently incorperated themseles into the world of smart phones and according to this NY Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/technology/18webtv.html?ref=media) they are at it again.
According to this article, Google has teamed up with Intel and Sony to create Google TV. What Google is trying to do here is stick their foot into a new market. More importantly to them is that they are trying to monopolize horizontally. If they have a branch of their company involved in computers, phones, and TVs they will have their bases covered in the world of technology. So why would they expand horizontally. One huge reason is that they now have the advantage of synergy. They can connect and integrate all of their different technologies and endeavors, making everything cheaper and easier for them.
The real winners in this are the consumers. Because Google does not charge their customers anything to use their product everyone with a computer uses some sort of Google product. With Google expanding it will be easier for the consumer to use Google's synergy for them. It will become so easy for us to jump from our computer to our phone and then to our TV because all the Google programs will be compatible with each other on all these different devices. Google's expanding empire will make it easier for us to use our Google technology anywhere.

Jason