Back in January of this year I mentioned the possibility of antitrust moves towards Google from the Obama administration. I even mentioned Eric Schmidt bodying up with Obama to protect the search leader. A new article in the New York Times delves deeper into the potential for a government breakup.
Based on the article, what Google has in its favor is that it is helping consumers by giving away services for free. What is working against it is the ability to leverage its dominant search position to launch new services which can kill off competition quickly and efficiently.
If history is a guide, Microsoft and Yahoo! will not be a threat to the company from a search perspective and Google's services will only get better. As the search leaders' offerings improve, more and more companies will be very vocal in their complaints to the government. This will increase scrutiny on the company which could slow it down.
But even if the government slows Google's development down by 50% it will likely roll out new services faster than virtually all the competition. Still, one slip-up could land Google in big trouble - the company has become synonymous with the internet and is slowly replacing Microsoft as the company striking fear in the hearts of start-ups and their investors.
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