Google Inc’s spartan web site will not be carrying ad banners any time soon according to a report in the New York Times. Founder Sergey Brin explained that the page, famous for its simple logo and generous white space, has been carefully designed so as to download fast. Brin added that contrary to popular perception, Google’s competitors are not the portal sites like fellow Stanford spin-off Yahoo Inc. Rather, the company is taking aim at Inktomi Corp, the supplier of search technology to Yahoo and its rivals in the consumer portal marketplace.
So far, Google has succeeded in licensing its software to the Netscape Communications division of America Online Inc and to Red Hat Inc, the high-profile Linux distributor. Brin says negotiations with other potential customers are under way. Counterintuitive as it may sound, the search engine OEM strategy has won Google backing to the tune of $25m from industry heavyweights Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, Sequoia Capital, Andy Bechtolsheim and Ram Shiram. รก
