The majority of Google’s products are in the form of free software, although there are a few exceptions.  These software products are the basis for Google’s end-user services.  These services earn Google a huge daily audience, attracting advertisers.

Google’s revenues come mainly from their advertising services, AdWords and AdSense, representing 99% of revenues.  Google AdWords are designed to display advertisements relevant to the context of each specific web page.  Companies pay Google to place AdWords on the sites of Google and its affiliates.  On the other hand, Google pays publishers to embed AdSense into their sites.  AdSense and AdWords both contain the same advertisements, but publishers who use AdSense get paid when users click on advertisements, while AdWords users pay Google to include their ads on its pages.  Google also offers two pieces of hardware; the Google mini and the Google Search Appliance.  The Google mini is designed for small companies, while the Google Search Appliance is tailored to medium and large businesses.  Both are rented to companies to facilitate searches within the company intranet, or for commercial use on their websites. 

Google offers a variety of free products and services.  The free products Google offers include Gmail, Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Google Desktop, Google Toolbar, Picasa, Google Analytics, Google Maps, Google Earth, Google Finance, Google Checkout, Google for mobile phones, Youtube, and a variety of search related services.  Gmail is a free web-based e-mail client, Google Docs & Spreadsheets include free word processing and spreadsheet software for online and offline use, and Google Desktop is used for local searches on users’ home computers.  Google Maps now have the capacity to show actual satellite images via Google Earth, while it also shows current traffic conditions.  In addition, Google has recently added a service called Google Street View, which allows for virtual tours of entire cities.  Google SMS allows for users to send text messages to 466453 (GOOGLE) with queries from their phones searching for topics ranging from weather, sports, or local listings, to driving directions and even flight status updates.  Google facilitates most of these free services with advertisements, while many products are still in beta versions.  In addition, Google is always developing new and innovative programs through Google Labs.  One of the most interesting projects from Google Labs is Google Gears, which essentially allows for offline access to a variety of online files and pages.  This project is very important because it may one day rival Microsoft’s Windows operating system.