LISA: We interviewed Google last April and discussed the launch of Google on DoCoMo's i-mode. Has there been any significant development with DoCoMo since then? Any lessons learnt in terms of catering to a different medium from the traditional PC environments?

David Krane: We have not made significant front-end changes to our i-mode search service since we last spoke. Most of the enhancements have been on the back-end, to ensure support for our growing base of mobile users. Google has been offering users various wireless search services (i-mode, WAP, Palm, etc.) since April 2000. At this point, we have built a very stable, scalable system that accommodates users all around the world. As Google's search interface has always been very lightweight (the home page of Google.com averages 12 Kb), we quickly learned that this web-based technology translates almost seamlessly to the wireless environment.

LISA: In comparison with their counterparts in North America and Europe, the Asian search engine markets, in particular Japan and Korea, now have to make allowance for the strong hold of mobile communication devices. Does Google have plans to support the Korean mobile market?

David Krane: Yes, our business is growing very quickly in Korea. In October 2001, we announced that Google is powering searches for Lycos Korea. We will continue to build out our service offering to expand the appeal of Google to Korean web and mobile users.

LISA: Google already has experience of supporting i-mode in Japan. Mobile phones are particularly challenging in terms of their tiny screen size and small keypad space, which makes speech recognition technology a natural interface for these mobile environments. Do you have any plans to develop speech recognition technology?

David Krane: Yes, this is an area our research department is focusing on. We currently have a partnership with BMW, in which we have created a voice-activated version of Google, where a user can speak search terms into a phone and see the results on a fixed display or on a mobile phone. As speech input/output engines become more advanced, we'll evolve this technology to support voice output as well. And at some point, this platform will be available to both our desktop and mobile users, but this is not likely for another few years.

LISA: According to the Japanese Sankei newspaper (January 6, 2002), Google's adoption rate on Japanese search sites has now reached over 70%. Given that Google's full-fledged Japanese language service only started in September, 2000, this is quite an achievement. What makes Google different enough from its competitors to be able to achieve such a strong market position in Japan?

David Krane: There are a few key reasons why our partners select Google. For starters, we offer the world's largest collection of information – access to more than 3 billion documents, including more than 2 billion web pages. We also offer our search service in more than 70 different languages, with unbeatable performance rates (search results are returned in less than a second). Lastly, the relevance of Google's ranking algorithms ensures that visitors to our partners' websites also find the information they are looking for. We value the relationships we have with our Japanese partners very much. They have significantly helped raise awareness of our own company in Japan and other parts of Asia.

LISA: Speaking of competitors, so called next generation search engines have already emerged such as Teoma (www.teoma.com) and Wisenut (www.wisenut.com). How will Google act strategically to maintain its current leading position as the world's preferred search engine? Do you think Google's PageRank technique will stand the test of time? Or do you have plans to develop a new, enhanced approach?

David Krane: We watch our competitors very closely. In fact, Google has never existed in an environment where there weren't many different competitors. But we are also seeing a lot of consolidation in the market. For example, in Germany, one of our most formidable competitors, rambler.de, is shutting down. And sites like Wisenut and Teoma were not able to sustain themselves as independent companies - they were both recently acquired by non-search companies, which puts a question mark over future investment in their technology. PageRank is one of more than 100 different ranking technologies that we use, and we are constantly refining and tweaking these algorithms to ensure that we offer the best search experience possible.

LISA: Google's Zeitgeist site (www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html) provides some interesting statistics on how Google is used. According to the January 2002 data on access by different languages, German, at 12%, is the second most used access language after English (57%), followed by Japanese (7%). Chinese is showing a much lower proportion at 3%. While you have a dedicated localized site for Japanese (www.google.co.jp), there is as yet no Chinese equivalent, although you do provide interfaces in both traditional and simplified forms of Chinese. How important is the Chinese language market to Google's business, and do you have plans to launch a dedicated Chinese site in the near future? Do you think your success with the Japanese market will help you achieve a similar position in the Chinese market?

David Krane: Yes, we are very optimistic about the Chinese market. Currently, we power millions of searches each day from China, and this traffic is growing steadily as well. A localized Chinese version of Google is in the works and will likely launch later this year. We also power searches for one of China's largest portals, NetEase.com. We hope to secure similar relationships with additional partners in the future.

LISA: The art of searching on the Internet is increasingly complex, particularly with multilingual users who query in one language and receive responses perhaps in a different language. As one solution to the need for real-time translation of search results, Google currently offers an automatic translation tool (beta system). But how interested is Google as a search engine company in technologies such as machine translation (MT)?

David Krane: Our mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible. Which is why MT forms a very important part of our strategy to connect all users around the world with the information they need. Very often, this information will not be in their mother tongue. As MT technology evolves, it will be used more and more prominently on our site.

LISA: Google is using natural language processing technology and Unicode support environments (C++ library) developed by Basis Technology. Do you have in-house resources to do R&D in natural language processing and MT or do you outsource the requirements in these areas?

David Krane: Yes, we have a dedicated research team of about a dozen computer science PhDs, many of whom have expertise in natural language processing (NLP). One of our employees, Peter Norvig, serves in the role of “Director of Machine Learning.” NLP research and testing is one of his primary areas of interest and work at Google.

LISA: What is Google's next big thing in relation to the Asia-Pacific market?

David Krane: Now that we have established significant traction in many of the major AP markets, Google has begun to build out our business in these countries. Last year we opened an office in Tokyo, which now has almost 10 full-time employees and is generating significant revenues for our company. We will continue to expand this office and add additional offices in Asia as our business grows. These offices will sell Google's advertising products, and will help provide our search technology to new and existing search services partners.

David Krane was interviewed for LISA by Minako O'Hagan. He can be reached at david@google.com