Products
Docs: Word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations -- all in the cloud. Google acquired Upstartle for the word processor in August 2005, and in 2007 they acquired two companies with presentation programs – Tonic Systems and Zenter. Google says more than 500,000 companies are using Google Docs, but relatively few users are paying any money for it.
Health: Digitizes health records so patients can access them remotely. Launched Feb. 2008. Health has only been open to the public since late May, after going through a two-month test with patients of The Cleveland Clinic.
Gmail: Web-based email service, supported by ads that are based on the contents of your emails. Started April 2004. Picked up by early adopters and now main stream users, but still a distant third behind Yahoo and AOL email, which each get about three times the unique visitors per month, according to comScore.
Calendar: Web-based calendar for individuals and groups. Started April 2006. The calendar app is also available on mobile devices and can sync up with Microsoft's Outlook. We use it every day.
Checkout: Online payment processing service, which has never been able to take much market share away from eBay's PayPal. Launched in June 2006, active.
Chrome: Google's Web browser, designed specifically to speed up Web apps like Google's GMail and Docs software. Another front on the Google-Microsoft war. Launched in Sept. 2008, active, and initially popular among tire-kicking geeks.
Finance: Stock quotes, company information. Launched March 2006. The site is not only less popular than Yahoo's version -- it's 22nd among financial Web sites in the U.S., according to comScore.
Language Tools: Linguistic apps, including translation. The translation function launched in May 2007. It's just a basic translation site, like Yahoo's Babelfish, but has the advantage of being built in to Google.
Picasa: Photo organizing, editing, and sharing software. Bought Idealab in July 2004. Active. Picasa was second among photo-sharing Web sites to Flickr in March, according to comScore, but that doesn't count Facebook, which is much bigger than either service.
Reader: Subscribe to RSS feeds and read them online. Launched Oct. 2005 and hugely popular. Also the first app to make use of Google Gears, which gives offline support.
SketchUp and 3D Warehouse: 3D modeling and hosting services. Google acquired @Last Software in March 2006. SketchUp Pro is geared toward architects, civil engineers and other professionals, but Google also has a free version with less options. Niche.
Web Accelerator: Uses cached data and data compression to speed up browsing. Launched May 2005. Active, but niche.
Video: Google's Pre-YouTube video site. Launched in 2005. Now that the company has YouTube, Google Video isn't really that useful as a video-hosting site, but it still has a place as a video search engine.
Acquisitions
Idealab: Image organizer, bought in July 2004, became Picasa.
Upstartle: Word processor, bought in March 2006, became Google Docs.
@Last Software: 3D modeling software, bought in March 2006, became Sketchup.
2Web Technologies: Online spreadsheets, bought in June 2006, became Google Docs.
Tonic Systems: Presentation program, bought in April 2007, became Google Docs.
GreenBorder: Computer security, bought in May 2007, became Google Chrome.
Zenter: Presentation program, bought in June 2007, became Google Docs.
