The history of Google showcases its crucial role in shaping the modern internet, a role it continues to play today. The way we live our lives and search for information is largely influenced by Google, impacting millions of people around the globe.
Today, most businesses use Google to promote themselves, market their products, and gain sales. They look for ways to increase Google reviews to gain more customers and earn profits in their businesses. There’s no doubt it’s the ‘Modern Day Oxygen’ as highlighted when exploring the History of Google.
Interestingly, the term ‘Google’ has no full form but is derived from ‘googol,’ signifying an immense number. The name originated from a misspelling and was later adopted as the company’s identity. From its humble beginnings in Susan Wojcicki’s garage in Menlo Park, California, Google has grown into one of the world’s largest conglomerates. In this blog, we will explore the timeline of Google from its inception in 1996 to its current prominence until 2024. So, all the questions, like when was Google founded, and what the product launch dates will be covered.
2024 – Launch of Gemini
In February 2024, Bard and Duet AI, two of Google’s artificial intelligence products, were merged under the Gemini brand. Initially, the platform was launched in English, but within a week, it expanded to include Japanese and Korean. By April 2024, the Gemini web app supported over 40 languages. Google also introduced Gemini Advanced around this time.
Interesting Fact: In 2024, Google introduced the new Pixel 9 phones, including the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, along with the Pixel Watch 3 and Pixel Buds Pro 2.
2023 – Year of Pixel Launch
Google came up with a range of Pixel products in their portfolio by launching the Google Pixel 8 and 8 Pro. It even launched its first Pixel Tablet and Pixel Fold (foldable phone), the Pixel Watch 2, and the Pixel 7A. marking another significant chapter in the history of Google.
Interesting Fact: The most awaited AI tool from Google was Bard. It was launched in the same year. Even Duet AI for Google Workspace was added to all the Workspace Apps.
2022- Emphasizing Privacy and Security
Following the controversies last year, Google is focusing more on its privacy and security measures in 2022.
Interesting Fact: On April 6, Google announced to addition of a ‘privacy guide’ to the Chrome browser.
2021- Year of Controversies
Although there have been multiple instances of disputes in A history of Google, 2021 can be marked as one of the most controversial years. Three of the biggest controversies faced by Google in 2021 were,
- Google Chrome incognito mode lawsuit
- Investigations for alleged harassment and discrimination
- Employees departing due to the incentive structures and several other reasons
Interesting Fact: In January 2021, the government of Australia proposed legislation that would require Google to pay media companies for the right to use their content.
2020- The Year of Change
Heeding the COVID-19 pandemic, Google announced a myriad of cost-cutting measures like slowing down hiring, focusing more on machines and data centers, etc.
Interesting Fact: In 2020, Google faced as many as three service outages that disrupted the company’s services including Google Drive, YouTube, and the Suite of Google applications. Fortunately, all the outages were resolved within hours.
2019 – New CEO of Alphabet
On 3 December 2019, Sundar Pichai became CEO of Alphabet Inc. after co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin resigned from the executive positions. He is considered as first Indian-American CEO in the History of Google.
Interesting Fact: In 2019, Google Earth Timelapse was enhanced, allowing users to easily and interactively visualize the planet’s changes over the last 35 years.
2018 – 20 years of Google
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, reports that it topped $100 billion in annual sales for the first time in Google’s 20-year history. The milestone is a testament to the strength of Google’s ad sales business in 2018.
Interesting Fact: Alphabet leads Amazon to be the world’s largest Internet company by the company’s market capitalization.
2017 – Buys part of HTC
After years of working closely with the hardware manufacturer, Google finally bought HTC. It paid $1.1 billion to get its hands on smartphone expertise from the struggling Taiwanese manufacturer of its Nexus phones.
Interesting Fact: The total revenue of Alphabet crossed $100 billion ($110 billion) in 2017 – the first time in the company’s history of 20 years.
2016 – The Launch of Google Pixel ‘First phone made by Google’
Google entered the home assistant war with its AI-powered Google Home device
Google launched a flagship phone called the Pixel, billed as “the first phone made by Google inside and out.” The launch of this phone was one of the most important phases in A history of Google.
Interesting Fact: Pixel has free unlimited storage for images and videos
2014 – 2015 – The New CEO – Sundar Pichai
Google welcomed its new CEO Sundar Pichai
Google folded itself into a new company called Alphabet with Page as its CEO. The new parent company includes businesses like Nest, Google X, Fiber, and Google Ventures under its umbrella. This was one of the turning points in A history of Google.
Interesting Fact: Sundar Pichai joined Google in 2004. He has overseen the development of popular Google products like Chrome, Drive, Gmail, Google Apps, and Android.
2012 – 2013 – The launch of Chromecast
Google launched Chromecast, a dongle that allows people to stream content from their phones or computers to a TV
Interesting Fact: Google’s first tweet was “I’m feeling lucky” in binary code.
2012 – Google Acquired Motorola Mobility
Google acquired Motorola Mobility in 2011. The deal was announced on August 15, 2011, and the acquisition was completed on May 22, 2012. Google paid $12.5 billion for Motorola Mobility, which was at the time the largest acquisition in Google’s history.
Interesting Fact: Google paid $40 per share, which was 63% more than the price at which Motorola Mobility closed on August 12.
2011 – Meet the new CEO Larry Page
2011 marked a significant chapter in A history of Google as its management was changed. In April, co-founder Larry Page took over the role of CEO and Eric Schmidt became the Executive Chairman.
Interesting Fact: Larry Page served two terms as the CEO of Google. (1997-2001 & 2011-2015).
2010 – Nexus One
Google launched its first branded smartphone, the Nexus One.
Interesting Fact: Since 2010, Google has been acquiring an average of one company every week.
2009 – Declaration of the Power
In November, Forbes magazine featured Sergey Brin and Larry Page as the fifth most powerful people in the world.
Interesting Fact: Google Wave was introduced in 2009. Later it was adopted by Apache Software and was known as Apache Wave.
2008 – Google Launches the Chrome Browser
Launched in 2008, Google released Chrome firstly for Microsoft Windows and later ported it to Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android. It later launched 43 supported languages. The launch of the Chrome browser turned out to be one of the key phases in A history of Google.
Interesting Fact: Chrome is used by 3.45 billion people today.
2007 – Acquires DoubleClick
Street View in Google Maps debuted in five US cities. Google acquired Double Click, an online advertising company. In 2007, Fortune magazine listed Google as the number one company to work for in the U.S.
Interesting Fact: After two years, Google Maps first appeared on Apple’s first iPhone
2006 – The Year of Fast Growth
In early 2005, YouTube changed the game with what was by far the most accessible and comprehensive video website on the internet. Coincidentally, Google released its competitor, Google Video, around the same time. Both were popular, but YouTube’s quickly growing platform was far too much for Google to overcome directly, so it outright bought the website for $1.65 billion in 2006.
Google Mobile Web: With the rise in mobile users, Google decided to release its mobile web search for mobile users delivering the same results as on desktop.
Google Maps: It all started when two Danish brothers Lars and Jens Eilstrup Rasmussen came up with an idea for a web app that would display static maps along with a searchable, scrollable, and zoomable map.
Interesting Fact: PAC-MAN became Google’s first-ever playable doodle on May 21, 2010, the day being the 30th anniversary of the arcade game.
2004 – Google Goes Public and the Launch of Gmail
After a long wait of five years, Google offered its IPO on 19 August 2004. The interesting fact about the IPO was that the shares were sold in an online auction format using a system built by Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse who were the underwriters for the deal.
Gmail is today one of the most dominant email platforms used across the world. However, the users took it as an April fool prank when on April 1, 2004; Google genuinely launched its Gmail. It is a free mail service that can be accessed by the user from anywhere in the world.
Google Autocomplete was the first of its kind when it was released in 2004. It added a fun new way to search the internet and significantly improved the user experience of the search workflow. This marks another important moment in the history of Google.
Interesting Fact: The Company sold 19,605,052 shares of stock for $85 per share. It was valued at $27 billion.
2003 – The year of Google AdSense
In March 2003, Google launched its AdSense program. It was originally named Content Targeting Advertising.
Interesting Fact: Google’s team of designers and illustrators has produced more than 5000 doodles for Google’s homepage since its first launch in August 1998.
2002 – Introduction of Google AdWords
With the introduction of AdWords, Google struck gold. It uses partly cookies and partly keywords characteristics to place advertising copy on pages depending on the relevance.
In September 2002, Google launched ‘Google News’ Krishna Bharat was the one who developed the idea of Google News. This was a big milestone in the history of Google as AdWords gained huge popularity in the succeeding years.
Interesting Fact: Currently, Google News is available in more than 35 languages across the globe.
2001 – Google welcomed its first Chairman – Eric Schmidt
2001 was the year when Eric Schmidt joined Google as its first chairman and later became its chief executive officer. Moreover, Larry Page became president of products and Sergey Brin became president of technology.
Interesting Fact: Google launched Google Image Search with over 250 million images in its search database.
2000 – Adding New Languages
Google added ten new languages: French, German, Italian, Swedish, Finnish, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Norwegian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Danish
Interesting Fact: Google searches were made by 18 million people per day.
1999 – Moved Towards the Home of Startups (Silicon Valley)
The year 1999 holds a special place in the hearts of Page and Brin; in March, the company shifted to Palo Alto, California. Another major change in the history of Google came in the month of September when Google officially removed the beta from the title.
Interesting Fact: Google translate supports 243 languages today.
1998 – The Year of Initial Funding
Google was officially launched in the year 1998. Craig Silverstein was the first ever employee hired by Google in the history of Google. At present, there are over 180,895 employees working at Google.
By the end of 1998, Google already had an index of about 26 million pages.
BackRub is written in Java and Python and runs on several Sun Ultras and Intel Pentiums running Linux. The primary database is kept on a Sun Ultra II with 28GB of disk. Scott Hassan and Alan Steremberg have provided a great deal of very talented implementation help. Sergey Brin has also been very involved and deserves many thanks. – Larry Page
Google’s first Doodle – Burning Man
The Burning Man was the first Google Doodle designed by the co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The Duo created the doodle to notify users of their absence in case the servers crashed. This is the most famous doodle in the history of Google
Interesting Fact: The first version of Google’s logo was designed by its Co-Founder, Sergey Brin, with a free graphic program called GIMP.
1997 – Registration of Google in 1997
In its early days, Google’s search engine operated under Stanford’s web domains, using URLs like google.stanford.edu and z.stanford.edu. It wasn’t until later that year, that Google officially registered the domain google.com, marking the start of its independent online presence.
Interesting Fact: On September 15, 1997 the domain google.com was registered.
1996 – The Beginning Of Google 1996
In January 1996 Google journey began as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who were both PhD students at Stanford University in California. While the duo is often credited with creating Google, the project also had an unofficial third founder—Scott Hassan. As the original lead programmer, Hassan played a key role, writing much of the code for “BackRub”, first search algorithm of Google Search. Though he’s less widely known, his contributions were crucial to the early development of the search engine in the history of Google in 1996.
Interesting Fact: Scott Hassan left Google before it was officially founded as a company.
Whether you’re seeking the ideal PDF tools or delving into the nuances of the fintech sector’s opportunities, your inquiries may vary, yet you consistently find your answers. These answers shape your daily choices, they spotlight the gaps, they suggest ways to grow, both personally and professionally. So many inquiries and just one tool. Well, an all-in-one tool that you can learn about by exploring the History of Google.
FAQs
When was Google created?
Answer: Google was officially launched on 4th September 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, a month after Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim funded them. Today Google is the most used search engine.
Who initially funded Google?
Answer: Andy Bechtolsheim co-founder of Sun Microsystems initially funded Google by giving Larry and Sergey a $100,000 cheque in August 1998.
What is the full form of Google?
Answer: The official full form of Google is the Global Organization of Oriented Group Language of Earth.
What was the first Google search?
Answer: Larry Page and Sergey Brin, co-founders of Google, were demonstrating the accuracy of their search engine to computer scientist John Hennessy. The search keyword was “Gerhard Casper,” the name of Stanford University’s president at the time.
Also Read: The most awaited Google Pixel 5 is here! Along with Chromecast TV and Nest Audio
