14 DAY TRIAL // Google+ may only be a couple of weeks old, but so far so good for the company which has had a string of failures in the social web space. And it seems that investors are taking notice as well, Google's market capitalization grew by $20 billion since the new site launched.
There were some other factors, the tech sector as a whole has seen bigger share prices on the stock markets, but there is still a glimmer of hope that Google may yet have successful social product.
From what we've seen so far, if Google doesn't manage to sabotage itself in the process, Google+ will become quite big. Maybe not enough to topple Facebook, but it could certainly be bigger than Twitter and that may be good enough for the company.
Still, considering that Google is mostly valued for its ad business on the market and that its stock price has been going down for quite a while now, perhaps it's Google+ that will tip the scales and make investors a bit more optimistic about the company.
Famed entrepreneur-turned venture capital investor Marc Andreessen believes that all big tech companies, including Apple, are grossly undervalued.
This is true for Google as well, based on its market cap and ad revenues, investors don't seem to be valuing Android, the biggest smartphone operating system out there, at all, even as Google is still gaining market share in the hotly disputed area.
Granted, there are some issues that could affect Android, the biggest worry at the moment should be all of the patent-hoarding companies, led by Microsoft, which are going after Google partners. Those targeted choose to pay, making the free Android 'less-free.'
So if Android can't make Google look more appealing, Google+ probably won't either, at least not yet. It's the best weapon in the fight against Facebook, Google's biggest threat, so far, so it will have to do. [via TechCrunch]