Google is everywhere

Is it me or is Google taking over the World! I am sure there are many software companies out there wondering what Google is going to develop or buy next and offer for free* as part of Google Pack.

Google Analytics nee Urchin Analytics, previously attainable by applying on line and then waiting a long time, is now finally on general release and I would imagine it has sent a few ripples through the web analytics market. Google didnt expect the take up of their free offering to be so significant when they launched it the first time in November 2005. 234,725 new accounts in one week! Even Google couldn’t cope. Originally Urchin was sold for $495 per month and then reduced to $199. Now I know that this is not exactly reasonable but for sheer wow factor that would have been $116,188,875 in revenue and get this …. per month!

Back in the real world the market for web analytics grew by about 25% year-on-year in 2005 ending at about £46m. This was bolstered by increasingly business-focused solutions and greater boardroom understanding about the importance of effective measurement.  However, boardrooms also understand the need to drive down costs and increase revenues. Google Analytics has the functionality of a medium to high end web analytics service. It also provides timesaving integration with AdWords and tracks all of your non-AdWords initiatives as well. So now not only can organisations save on license fees but also, in some cases, on services as well with Google exposing these capabilities for free.

*(Free = no monetary exchange, but there might be some other exchange of value like signing up for a Gmail account).