As reported by the Financial Times, Japan
recently joined Germany and France in an attempt to create a rival to Google.
While Japanese technologists are adept at creating successful internet
companies, a vague government-inspired project aimed at fighting Google's
dominance is a weak proposition. Trying to motivate giant companies like Toyota, NEC, Hitachi,
NTT Data and Sony Computer Sciences to cooperate while they also compete with
each other on myriad technical areas is not a promising task, as some European
governments are well aware. Consider the company Quaero,
which was created jointly by Germany and France in order to build a European competitor to Google. Quaero's ambition was
literal as well - its name means "I search" in Latin. However, it hit
a major stumbling block last December, when Germany
decided to pull out of the project and build their own national search
engine, to be called Theseus.
While Google's undeniable success and its market capitalization north of
$160 Billion continue to draw envy all around the world, governments are better
off directing their resources elsewhere. Google certainly doesn't lack
international competitors. Naver, based in Korea,
or Baidu in China are great examples. Both were started by technical founders with venture
backing as opposed to a highly publicized national project driven by their
governments. Naver and Baidu developed their technology locally, sharpened
their lead in the marketplace by following the specific needs of their local
userbase, and remain the leading search portals in Korea and China,
respectively.
Instead of looking to Japanese electronics giants which face increasingly
tough competition from players in Korea and Taiwan, the Japanese
government might be better off by talking to leading local internet site Yahoo Japan.
