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*By Jason Schwarz of [](http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/story/10709986/1/google-could-plummet-as-apple-war-takes-toll.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA#) [www.economictiming.com](http://www.economictiming.com).*
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> **Google’s**([GOOG](http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/story/10709986/1/google-could-plummet-as-apple-war-takes-toll.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA#)) in trouble. I’m forecasting the next 24 months will take this stock back to its first-year initial public offering levels of $300 a share. The Internet search giant has ruffled the wrong feathers.
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> When I hear **Apple**([AAPL](http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/story/10709986/1/google-could-plummet-as-apple-war-takes-toll.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA#)) CEO Steve Jobs mention that he feels betrayed by Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and when I see Apple go out and buy its own mobile advertising firm, I begin to question Google’s future growth prospects. Apple’s Quattro is coming, it’s going to be revolutionary, and it’s going to be the most important contributor to Google’s demise. But it won’t be the only contributor. With Google it’s a matter of picking its poison.
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> **1. Leadership **
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> This company is running like a chicken with its head cut off. Schmidt is flying solo without the help of founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who are actually selling shares themselves. It’s not exactly a ringing endorsement from the innovators.
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> **2. Profitable Innovation**
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> In a rapidly changing landscape of mobile innovation, Google is having difficulty making money on anything other than its core [desktop search](http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/story/10709986/1/google-could-plummet-as-apple-war-takes-toll.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA#) business. Desktop search advertising was a great business to be in during the last decade but its growth now looks limited because of the shift towards mobile computing.
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> Schmidt knows Google is vulnerable, which explains why we hear about yet another Google experiment on a weekly basis. Last week it was Google broadband; this week it’s Google TV. It’s all a big joke. Even Android is a joke. The recent market share gains from Android are misleading because it suggests Google is making money when all the company really has done is give it away for free. Investors are ready to see profits beyond [desktop](http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/story/10709986/1/google-could-plummet-as-apple-war-takes-toll.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA#) advertising. Twenty four months from now, desktop Internet surfing will be in dramatic decline.
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> 3. **Mobile Search Competition**
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> Mobile versions of Twitter, Facebook, and **Microsoft’s**([MSFT](http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/story/10709986/1/google-could-plummet-as-apple-war-takes-toll.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA#)) Bing will give Google a run for its money. And I would not bet against Jobs and Apple’s Quattro. The problem for Google is that the [mobile Internet](http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/story/10709986/1/google-could-plummet-as-apple-war-takes-toll.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA#) relies on applications rather than Web sites. Apple controls more than half of the mobile Web market share, and Google is one Jobs decision away from being left out of the Apple ecosystem. This makes Google extremely vulnerable.
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via [thestreet.com](http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/story/10709986/1/google-could-plummet-as-apple-war-takes-toll.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA)
Wow. I don’t agree with The Street very often, but the concerns expressed here are pretty much exactly how I’ve felt about Google for a while now. I definitely think they are ruffling the wrong feathers with Apple, and I think that they are going to need more than web search to keep them afloat in the long term. Android, as far as I can tell, is never going to be that secondary source of income that Google will need as the importance of desktop search declines. Rather than trying to take on Apple, they should be focused on the kinds of partnerships that got them this far.
And I don’t mean teaming up with a losing technology like Flash, either. Adobe isn’t going to bring great success to Android. It’s a smart strategy for Adobe, for whom Android is their last shot at viability, but I don’t think users care that much about the lack of Flash on mobile devices when all is said and done.
