Digging Deeper into Google Analytics - No Smooth Path to World Domination
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All of this may sound excellent for Google and the companies it hopes to serve in theory, but during the first week of the launch of the free version of Google Analytics, the reality came up a little short. The company stopped accepting new accounts when it reached 234,725. That number forces it to track a huge amount of information, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that a number of users experienced slow service, and others couldn’t get through at all.
Google has had to display the following notice: “Google Analytics has experienced extremely strong demand, and as a result, we have temporarily limited the number of new signups as we increase capacity. In the meantime, please submit your name and email address and we will notify you as soon as we are ready to add new accounts. Thank you for your patience.” Perhaps it should have used the Gmail model of an invitation-only service, as some observers have suggested. Then capacity could be ramped up a little at a time, as needed, rather than having the demand hit Google’s servers all at once.
The service has raised privacy concerns, precisely because of the amount of business-sensitive data that it sends through Google’s servers. Lisa Wehr, CEO of SEO firm Oneupweb, notes that “Privacy is a huge concern. Google saying they place a huge importance on this sensitive information doesn’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy. At the very least, they are going to use it in aggregate form.”
This of course leads to the next question: if Google uses the information in aggregate form, what will they do with it? Remember, Google also charges for advertising. With this kind of information, they can show advertisers just how valuable it is to spend their money with the top search engine…and maybe raise their prices a little in the process.
If this sounds a little, well, evil, consider this: Microsoft faced a major lawsuit for bundling the Internet Explorer browser with Windows for free. The company put rival browser maker Netscape out of business by leveraging its monopoly position in one field (operating systems) to give it a decisive advantage in another, unrelated field (browser software). Google holds a dominant position in search engine advertising. Google Analytics is free, and integrated into AdWords. Is not Google thus taking advantage of its dominant position in an unrelated field to give it a decisive advantage over all of the web analytics companies trying to serve the middle market?
This point may be food for thought. It might even be fodder for a lawsuit. But one thing is likely: just as the predatory nature of the move didn’t prevent people from using the Internet Explorer browser, it will not prevent small and medium-sized businesses from availing themselves of Google Analytics.
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