Not yet 10 years old, Google has emerged as a powerhouse wielding tremendous power in the world of technology and beyond. It was able to influence a government auction of broadcast spectrum. It nudged several cellphone companies into opening up their networks to the phones of rivals.
It is the combination of Google’s economic power and unbounded ambition that strikes fear in the world of technology, advertising, media and telecommunications. In part that is because Google wields power more subtly, and perhaps more effectively, than other big companies ever have.