Google's Larry Page today defended the decisions he's made over the past year as CEO and pushed for a future that embraces simple but far-reaching search capabilities, particularly on mobile.
In a post on Google+, Page said he was eschewing the standard Founders' Letter in favor of an update that outlined the things on which Google was focused this year.
"Since becoming CEO again, I've pushed hard to increase our velocity, improve our execution, and focus on the big bets that will make a difference in the world," Page wrote. "Google is a large company now, but we will achieve more, and do it faster, if we approach life with the passion and soul of a start-up."
After assuming the CEO post for a second time last year, Page opted to clean house and shut down more than 30 Google products - from Google Buzz to Knol.
"Google has so many opportunities that, unless we make some hard choices, we end up spreading ourselves too thin and don't have the impact we want," Page wrote today.
He also pushed for a bigger focus on social, even tying it to employee bonuses. That effort has paid off in terms of Google+ uptake - now at 100 million users and growing, Page said today. But it also drew some privacy-related criticism as more and more personal information was tied to search via Search Plus Your World.
Page, however, touted the benefits of "making our products work together seamlessly," arguing that "understanding identity and relationships can also help us improve search." He acknowledged, though, that "there's a ton more work to do."
"People shouldn't have to navigate Google to get stuff done. It should just happen," Page continued, a concept demonstrated yesterday with the experimental Google Project Glass effort.
That project detailed the importance of on-the-go access to all Google services whenever you want them. "As devices multiply and usage changes (many users coming online today may never use a desktop machine), it becomes more and more important to ensure that people can access all of their stuff anywhere," Page said today.
On the Android front, that access will be available on any device that embraces the eco-system, even after Google completes its Motorola acquisition, Page said.
"It's important to reiterate that openness and investment by many hardware partners have contributed to Android's success," Page said. "So we look forward to working with all of them in the future to deliver outstanding user experiences. Android was built as an open ecosystem, and we have no plans to change that."
Page insisted that the heart of Google's business model "has always been the belief that we're better off if we can create a larger pie for our partners."
Page's letter comes several weeks after former Google exec James Whittaker - now at Microsoft - penned a scorching takedown of his former employer, arguing that Page's emphasis on social, as well as an inability to effectively compete against Facebook, led to the demise of a corporate culture Whittaker said he used to love.
Those and other controversies have made it difficult for everyone to get onboard with Google, something Page understands. "We have always wanted Google to be a company that is deserving of great love," he concluded. "But we recognize this is an ambitious goal because most large companies are not well-loved, or even seemingly set up with that in mind."
"With size comes responsibility," he said, and "when we do make mistakes we try to fix them as quickly as possible."
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