This blog has been making the rounds across the internet and does feel kind of spot on in some ways – https://secondbreakfast.co/google-blew-a-ten-year-lead; while Google has had some wins here and there over the years there’s been nothing quite on the level of their search, or gmail. The Pixel camera, while very competitive, hasn’t translated to commercial success for Pixel phones.
As someone said, “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes a lot”. I think that Google’s current situation ‘rhymes’ with Ballmer-era Microsoft in that it still continues to print money, but hasn’t quite nailed its new path forward. According to the hype train, commercializing AI should be its next big thing, we’ll see how that shakes out?