Alphabet – What Is It And What Does It Mean For Google And Its Users?

Even Google’s employees didn’t see it coming. On Monday, the behemoth we knew as Google became a mere subsidiary of the newly created Alphabet. Referring to everything Google does (or now, did) as Alphabet will take some getting used to, but what exactly is it, how will it affect Google and the wider tech industry and what will it mean for consumers and marketers who count on it everyday?

Alphabet is Google’s new parent company, what Google co-founder and Alphabet CEO Larry Page describes as a ‘cleaner, more accountable’ holding company. As part of the restructuring, many of Google’s more exciting ventures have been separated from the search giant and given independent status and leadership. Now the mysterious geniuses behind the likes of Google X labs are off the leash and have the freedom to develop driverless cars faster and with clearer focus. They are also now unburdened by the trust issues stemming from Google’s hunger for data; distanced from Google, we may be less likely to worry about a driverless car tracking our every move.

So, slimmed-down, re-focused companies under the Alphabet umbrella may be able to realise the lofty dreams of science-fiction fans more quickly than anticipated, but what does this mean for the competition? Google can now focus on doing what it does best. Headed up by new CEO Sundar Pichai, previous Chief Product Officer for Google, it’s likely that Google will seek to develop its search capabilities at a faster rate than before.

This must be an alarming prospect for its competitors, who already have to make do with life in Google’s shadow, but now are faced with a company that will be totally focused on delivering a better service for its consumers, and a more powerful set of capabilities for marketers and advertisers to play with.

So, Google is now less of an ‘everything’ company – but does the dawn of Alphabet bring us closer to one company having a transformative influence in every aspect of our lives? Portioning Google off into subsidiaries allows Alphabet to develop and market its companies in isolation, while also acquiring yet more companies in their remit in the future. This means that Alphabet will continue its march towards domination, without reinforcing the niggling worry that Google is taking over the world. Will this new incarnation of Google be able to uphold its own mantra of ‘Don’t be evil’?

The restructuring of Google and the birth of Alphabet could be a bold step towards realising all the potential these companies have to offer, more vividly and more quickly. It could prove a creative solution to promoting Google’s dedication to innovation in all aspects of our lives. We may be closer to the world of the future than we thought – it will be fascinating to see if Alphabet will be able to deliver all it appears to promise.

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