What's Next for Google

For Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO, 2004 was a good year. His firm led the search industry, the fastest-growing major sector in technology; it went public, raising $1.67 billion; its stock price soared, and its revenues more than doubled, to $3 billion. But as the search market ripens to something worthy of Microsoft's attention, those familiar with the software business have been wondering whether Google, apparently triumphant, is in fact heading off the cliff. Google, whose headquarters in Mountain View, California, is only five miles away from Netscape's former home, needn't perish as Netscape did, but it could. Despite everything Google has, its position is in fact quite fragile. In Eric Schmidt, Google may have a CEO with the technological depth and painfully acquired experience to survive Bill Gates.