Google powers on – driven by International

(By Philip Carnelley, 16 Oct 09 08:45) Google results are more of an economic indicator than an IT indicator. Its revenues remain driven by advertising revenues, which in turn are driven by core search performance – number of searches and price per click. Nonetheless it’s interesting to know how it’s doing, to look at the wider economy as well as to glean nuggets on its IT-shaping activities like Android, Chrome, Google Apps and so forth. And it’s (still) doing very well. Its Q3 results last night outperformed expectations with both sequential and year on year growth: yoy, up 7% to almost $6bn. At constant currency, US revenue was up 4% but international was up 19% - primarily non-English speaking countries, including Spain, Brazil and China. Even the UK “showed strength” in the quarter. Despite all the investment in new stuff, operating margin was up from 37% a year ago to 40%.

So clearly Google can well afford to invest even more in its growth projects. It also continues to invest in core search. One interesting snippet: Android is now on 12 devices in 26 countries – up from one device in one country a year ago. The company said it has begun stepping up hiring and capital spending, as well as considering more small and large acquisitions. Even Apple and Microsoft have to worry as the Google machine rolls on.