With former customers such as Microsoft and Yahoo looking to knock Google off the top of the lucrative search market, the company has opted to go on the offensive rather than retreat into lock-down and cost-cutting.
Keen to maintain its innovative reputation, Google is expanding its product range and is about to move into even larger offices in Silicon Valley formerly occupied by an increasingly troubled Silicon Graphics. It also recently expanded its number of world-wide offices to 21, with the opening of a Spanish sales branch in Madrid.
And when other tech companies are announcing job cuts, Google continues to swell staff numbers with computer science PhD"s, currently totaling 60, through schemes such as its Code Jam competition. ZDNet UK spoke to Google chief technology officer Craig Silverstein about plans for future innovation and impending competition.