Google is still a one trick pony from a revenue perspective. It sells advertising pixels in web browsers. As the world moves to consuming less and less info via web browsers this will become a bigger problem for Google. It seems every day I am getting so much more of my info from mobile/tablet apps than I am from a traditional browser. For instance I use the Yelp app to find businesses instead the browser. Of course I still spend a lot of time in a browser, but I certainly see a future where the browser goes the way of newsprint as my devices get smarter and smarter software. Google doesn't have a revenue model for those devices (yet).
Do you really believe that, in the near future, people will download and use an app. for every single service they want to access? Yelp is one thing. What about news? Are you only going to read The New York Times? Or are you going to download the iOS app. of every single CBS/ABC/NBC/FOX affiliate in the U.S.?
People complain about how Google uses their personal data. But because of Google's dominant position, they have practically every eye on them, watching their every move. If everything were more decentralized, it would be much more difficult to determine who has your data and what they're doing with it. Think about the many recent unauthorized data breaches at Gawker, etc. Google's model makes sense. Their product is great. If Google can't earn enough revenue and goes bankrupt, do you really think you'll be better off than you are now? Google has helped to develop many of technologies that are critical to your favorite apps. Their innovations push the web forward, and we are lucky to have them.
Next, think about how Apple controls their "App Store". If all of the ad. revenue shifts to Apple, will we be better-off with them controlling which apps make it and which apps are "rejects"? What kind of novel, 'core' technologies has Apple ever freely shared with the Internet? I'm sick of people bashing Google all of the time… Do you remember Webcrawler? Do you want to go back to using that? Or ---god forbid--- Bing?
Lastly, the author of this article, "Eric Jackson, founder of Ironfire Capital", said pretty much the exact same thing about Facebook on June 4th of this year:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/47674474/Facebook_Will_Disappear_in_5...
Can anyone think of a reason why a talking head for a financial TV network would think twice before spewing bullshit? This guy probably sends pre-publication copies of his articles to friends who short the stocks on his 'hit list'…kinda like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Plotkin
