Google chief Eric Schmidt has squashed speculation that the search engine will use its rapidly growing cash mountain to seek any large merger opportunities in the short-term.Speaking to the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference, he added that the search industry was still in its infancy and would need to consolidate its business models before moving to consolidate providers.
All the major search players - and many smaller firms - are continuing to develop new ways to target advertising and that core strategy remained expanding users through rapid innovation rather than land-grabs, Mr Schmidt said.
He did reveal that Google and Apple, whose board of directors he joined last year, are working closely together but that he did not want "comment on rumours".
"I will tell you that Google and Apple are doing more and more things together through the normal course of communications... We have similar goals and similar competitors."
Apple chairman Steve Jobs has said that the forthcoming iPhone will use Google products among its core internet services, such as its map search, when it launches later this year.
Google balance sheets showed that the company held $11.2 billion (£5.81 billion) in cash and marketable assets at the end of 2006, up 40 per cent on the same period of the year before.
Advertising would remain by far the greatest source of company revenue for the foreseeable future said Mr Schmidt, with Google Apps generating around two to three per cent of income.
