Google celebrates its 25 years today with a Doodle that celebrates the history of the search engine that became one of the largest technological giants.
The story of Google is one of the most fascinating in the world of technology and computing in recent decades. It was born in a garage as a project by a couple of Stanford students in the late 90s and today it is on the edge of quantum supremacy and generative artificial intelligence.
We present you a brief chronology of the most important moments of his journey.
The history of Google in the last 25 years
1998 – Google Founded
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two doctoral students at Stanford University, founded Google in September 1998 in a garage. Their goal was to organize information online and make it accessible to everyone.
Google’s first server was built in a custom case made of Legos and housed on the Stanford campus.
1999 – First office
The then-startup moved from its garage to a small office in Palo Alto, California. They also launched the first version of their search engine, which was already notable for its ability to provide relevant and fast results.
2000 – AdWords Advertising
Google launched AdWords, its online advertising platform, which allowed businesses to post ads on the search results page.
2001 – Google Images
Google Images launched, allowing users to search for images online. It was an important milestone for visual search on the Internet.
2003 – Googleplex
Google’s team was growing too fast, so it leased the land of its now-famous Googleplex campus to old-school tech giant Silicon Graphics International. In 2006, Google was able to purchase Googleplex outright.
2004 – IPO
The company held an initial public offering (IPO) on Wall Street in August 2004, raising more than $1.6 billion. This marked a turning point in the company’s history.
2004 – Gmail
Google launched Gmail, its free email service with a large storage capacity. It offered an innovative way to manage email and compete with other providers.
2005 – Google Maps
Google Maps was introduced, offering interactive maps and turn-by-turn directions. This service became a standard in online navigation and digital mapping.
2006 – YouTube acquisition
The firm acquired YouTube, the world’s largest video-sharing site at the time. This acquisition changed the way we consume media content online.
2007 – Android
Google introduced the Android mobile operating system, which would become the dominant system in the smartphone industry.
2008 – Google Chrome
This year Google also introduced Google Chrome, a web browser that integrated closely with the company’s growing list of web services. Today it is the most used brower in the world.
2010 – Google Instant
Google Instant was introduced, displaying real-time search results as users typed their queries into the search box.
2012 – Google Drive
The company launched its cloud storage service, Google Drive, allowing users to store and share files online.
2012 – Google Glass
Google Glass was intended to be a wearable computer that would present information on the wearer’s glasses. It was not the success that people expected.
2015 – Alphabet Inc.
Google reorganized and became a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., a parent company that brings various technology companies under its umbrella.
2016 – Google Assistant
Google Assistant was introduced, a virtual assistant powered by artificial intelligence that competes with Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa.
2018 – Google Duplex
Google Duplex, an artificial intelligence system that can make phone calls on behalf of users, was publicly demonstrated, showing an impressive level of artificial conversation.
2020 – COVID-19 pandemic
Google played a crucial role in providing up-to-date information on the pandemic and helping track the spread of the virus through its mobility tracking tool.
2021 – Quantum Supremacy
Google claimed to have achieved quantum supremacy with its Sycamore quantum computer, a significant achievement in the field of quantum computing.
2023 – Bard
The Palo Alto company introduced its Bard generative AI platform to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
These are just some of the milestones most notable in the history of Google in the last 25 years. The company has continued to innovate and expand its reach in various areas, from online search to artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Its influence on technology and society at large remains profound and lasting.
Editorial Team The editorial team of EMPRENDEDOR.com, which for more than 27 years has worked to promote entrepreneurship.