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Google has officially begun its defense of the biggest antitrust case in the last 25 years. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has accused the company of stifling competition in the online search industry through unfair means. However, the internet giant says its search product is in a precarious position with the younger demographic. Its search head has claimed that young internet users mock the tool, calling it “Grandpa Google.”
Google SVP says young users call the company “Grandpa”
Prabhakar Raghavan, Google’s senior vice president responsible for search, ads, and other related products, says young users don’t find its search tool as useful as the older demographic. They believe it’s old-fashioned and has little relevance to their needs. “Grandpa Google knows the answers and will help you with homework,” Raghavan said testifying for the company. “But when it comes to doing interesting things, they like to start elsewhere.”
It’s unclear when and where the term originated from or where Raghavan saw it. The Google executive didn’t bother to explain that. He made the comments downplaying the DOJ’s accusations that the firm violated antitrust law to maintain its online search dominance over the year. Raghavan added that Google is facing competition on all sides. It has managed to thwart the competition with sustained research and development.
According to the Google executive, Google innovates and adapts continuously to stay ahead of the curve in this ever-changing world of technology. “I feel a keen sense not to become the next roadkill,” Raghavan said. He was referring to Yahoo here. In 1998, Fortune magazine said that Yahoo had “won the search-engine wars” and was poised for “much bigger things” in the future. Google’s lawyers showed Raghavan this article in his testimony.
We all know that things didn’t pan out that way, with experts blaming the lack of innovation from Yahoo for its demise. Google doesn’t want to meet the same fate and has been continuously innovating to stay on top of the game. Raghavan mentioned several innovations the company made over the years in the search industry that have helped it reach the position it is in today.
Google is dominant because it’s better
The DOJ claims that Google paid companies like Apple billions of dollars to make its search engine the default option on their products. This has helped it gain an unfair advantage over rivals, further bolstering its dominance. However, Google argues that it is dominant because it is better. The firm says most of the users switch to Google if it isn’t already the default choice in their devices.
In his testimony on Thursday, Raghavan added that Google doesn’t only compete against traditional search engines such as Microsoft Bing. The company is competing “every day” against various “verticals” like Expedia or Yelp, “that people use to facilitate travel or dining,” the Associated Press reports. Raghavan is the first to testify in the case. Google CEO Sundar Pichai will testify on Monday.
The trial began last month with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testifying a few weeks back. Google will present its case over the next month. The court isn’t expected to rule on the matter until next year, though. It remains to be seen whether Google is found guilty of antitrust violation. If it is, the court may prohibit the company from paying device makers to offer Google as the default search engine. The firm is also facing a similar antitrust investigation over its advertising technology in Alexandria, Virginia.
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