"How did we ever survive before we could do this?" the visitor turns and asks.
Considering that was less than 10 years ago, most would agree the answer is "pretty well". Despite this, Google's worth continues to soar to dizzy and quite possibly unsustainable heights. It's growth harks back to the ultimately doomed tech-boom of the 90's.
A bold statement? Perhaps, but then again, perhaps not. Consider this: Google is now worth about the same as AOL Time Warner. That's around US$80 billion (AU$106 billion). Still not getting it? That's TWICE the combined worth of Ford Motor Company and General Motors.
Yahoo, by contrast, is worth around US$46 billion (A$61 billion). Considering both companies' revenue figures are in the same ballpark, some may well ask how Google can maintain its spot as top-dog.com of the Nasdaq. Its only major advantage over Yahoo seems to be that it's become a verb.
So now they're going head to head. Google has embraced instant messaging with Google Talk, and Yahoo has taken on widespread contextual advertising with its new publisher network. Yahoo has even "Gmailified" its own Web mail product by improving its mail search function.
Ignoring for a moment the fight for dominance in the US, both companies face challenges in the Australian market. NineMSN, the partnership between Kerry Packer's PBL and Microsoft, remains a major stumbling block for Yahoo.
"The media landscape down there is extremely concentrated," John Marcom, Yahoo's senior vice president of international, told ZDNet Australia at the company's headquarters in Sunnyvale, USA. "The fact that the number one online company and the number one offline company are in a joint venture creates a big set of challenges."
Packer's clout with the ad-buying community in Australia, combined with Microsoft's reach, doesn't make it easy for other players. In addition, Packer's Nine Network "has given them some promotional heft as well," Marcom says.
Describing Australia as the market "where I would really like to relocate myself," Marcom admits Down Under was a country Yahoo wasn't "ruthless about prioritising".
Australian broadband providers' reluctance to partner with Yahoo is another frustration for the California-based company. Yahoo has broadband tie-ins to SBC in the US and British Telecom in Europe.
"You can date someone, but if they don't want to get married, you can't get married," Marcom says. "The big incumbents are the most biased to think they can do all of this alone."
Things move faster in the UK, US and Canada, Marcom says, but he's convinced the big players in Australia will come around.
For now, both Google and Yahoo seem concerned with drawing as many users onto their sites as possible. For Google, that meant the launch of Gmail, a clean, searchable mail service offering a gigabyte of storage. More recently, it meant the launch of Google Talk.
Ah yes. Just what the world needed. As millions of netizens start their browsing every day by loading up a unified messaging program to access their Yahoo, MSN, AOL and ICQ instant messenger accounts, they often pause. They pause to pray for yet another company to launch an IM service at least one friend will use, forcing them to join as well. Google has answered their prayers.
4%
2%
