17 November 2010 | Author: N. Hamilton Media copywriter

Google: A sleeping giant?

A top venture capitalist has blasted Google for hopping into bed with promising tech companies instead of dreaming up tech innovations, The Financial Times' technology blog reports.

Fred Wilson, a managing partner at Union Square Ventures, has said that the search giant's gotten lazy following the introduction of Gmail and has since swallowed up promising tech companies instead of developing innovative, home-grown services.

Quick to yawn-off criticism, Google board member and rival venture capitalist John Doerr hit back: "I don't think that's true, I think there are all kinds of really innovative and essential services that come out of Google."

And while Mountain View supporter Doerr went on to list Google Docs and Google Voice as original and innovative products that have transformed the tech sphere at the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco, Doerr's comments aren't likely to put Wilson's claims to rest after eagle-eyed commentators spotted that both products have resulted from the search giant's corporate acquisitions rather than internal development work.

However, as Mr Wilson also added that Facebook seems to have fallen similarly short in the innovation stakes too with its status update and check-in facilities said to be gleaned from other innovators from around the web, the phenomenon doesn't stop with Mountain View.

Google's top brass may be able to sleep a little easier with one of their main rivals falling under the same accusations - or given Google's continued dominance of the search market.

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