May 13, 2010 | The wild world of acquisitions

Notable Google acquisitions earlier this year included On2 Technologies and Aardvark. They have spent a rumored $250 million this quarter alone on acquiring a total of 10 companies.

One of the things that annoys me greatly with regards to the startup philosophy is that in working towards an eventual buy-out from a larger corporation, they all-too-often destroy their own potential for greater good. One example is Lala, an online music provider that was closed recently by Apple after it was bought last December. It was likely seen as a threat to the eventual online-version of iTunes slated to roll out in the beginning of June (according to rumors). It almost seems as though once a large corporation buys a startup, it stifles the wild pace of development, the wonderful new ideas and products, and ends up either rolling the product into some stagnant and stale add-on to an existing lineup. I wouldn't be surprised if Episodic's team found themselves working near YouTube's team, despite their likely intentions to act as a competitor.

What befuddles me a bit is Google's constant toying with hardware, despite obvious indications that there attempt aren't terribly successful (see Nexus One) - the odd one of the bunch shown above is Agnilux, a company headed by former Apple employees and first eyed when the iPad made landfall. Is Google planning on unveiling a new Nexus One? Clearly Google is keen on having fingers in (too?) many pies and it can only be a matter of time before I dare ask: what on earth are you planning to do?

Also written on this day..

• 2008: Python code for extracting email addresses
• 2005: Dual movie review
• 2004: The Wind