Google's Silence

Snow fell on New York City today, this winter’s first snow fall in the Big Apple. 

The promised Google “blizzard,” however, has yet to materialize. 

Google CEO Eric Schmidt proudly proclaimed at the Google Q3 2006 conference call last October:

The blizzard of new product launches, unprecedented for our scale and confusing to almost everyone, seems to create new opportunities for us every day.

No Google blizzard in 2007, however. 

Google proclaims this Valentine’s Day: “Gmail sign-ups are now open worldwide!” 

Whoa!, quoting Al Pacino in “Scent of a Woman.”

Gmail shedding its veneer of exclusivity is not the stuff Wall Street dreams are made of. eBay has been a destination of choice to procure Gmail “by invitation only” accounts, at the non-exclusive price of $0.01 (free shipping). 

What else has Google served up this 2007? A handful of product upgrades, a Google Checkout subsidy and two Google Mobile alliances :

February 7, 2007
Google Checkout Makes It Easy to Shop for Your Sweetheart (or Sweethearts) This Valentine’s Day

January 30, 2007
Google Mini Integrated Solution Now Offers Secure Search for Businesses of All Sizes

January 23, 2007
New Version of Google Groups Gives Groups Their Own Home on the Web

January 9, 2007
New Innovations, Features for Google SketchUp and Google Earth

January 8, 2007
Samsung and Google Align to Create Rich Experience for Mobile Phone Users Worldwide

January 4, 2007
Google Search Appliance Adds New Features to Customize Enterprise Search

January 3, 2007
China Mobile, Google Launch Cooperation: Creating Leading Mobile Search Service in China

Eric Schmidt also extolled Google partnerships in his Q3 call:

Partnerships, each one defining a new and important market for us; it started, of course, with the Dell deal in Q2, where we got better access for end users to Google, followed by the Adobe deal, better integration of high-quality graphics in Google. Followed then by eBay, integration with Skype and bringing international advertisers into the fold. Intuit, advertising services to medium and small businesses that we couldn't otherwise reach or could not serve as well. MTV Networks, video distribution and video ad targeting and syndication, bringing in a whole new way in which we can make money for content video publishers. Fox MySpace, a search and advertising partner with us for the fastest-growing social network. And of course, culminating last week with the YouTube acquisition, sort of the ultimate partnership, if you will, recognizing the fundamental importance of video of all types.

Where are the new partnerships “defining a new and important market” for Google in 2007?

Not only has Google been mum on new “ultimate partnerships,” it has been silent on the business model risks its already touted ones are facing, dMarc Broadcasting and YouTube.

Google has not been silent, however, when public officials have questioned the way it operates, as I discussed yesterday in “Google gets defensive, all over the world”:

Google is tickled to have an unlevel playing field, as long as it is on what it perceives to be the higher plane. 

Once Google finds itself having to play like everyone else, however, it decries the situation, as it has today in Belgium and as it did last week in North Carolina.