During the conference call discussing Google’s latest earnings report, executives were asked about how mobile will affect the company’s business — both the general usage of search, as well as Google’s revenue and profits from advertising.
CEO Larry Page responded that he “always” gets asked about how the popularity of mobile apps affects Google search, but he’s “not super-concerned” about it.
“We’ve been dealing with that issue for a long time,” Page said. “Fundamentally search is an amazing thing for publishers and software developers and other apps. I think, in general, the information wants to be found.”
There will be challenges as more usage shifts to mobile, Page said, but Google will get through them.
As for the effect of mobile on the company’s bottom line, Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora argued that focusing on details like Google’s current mobile CPC rates is “the wrong way” to look at these questions. (He has talked in a general way about those CPC rates before.) “The right way” is to understand “the new reality where we have all these multiscreens.” In that new reality, Arora said Google has to deliver the right answer to users throughout the day, on any device. And if the company succeeds at that, “The pie will grow for everybody.”