Six Google Davos Revelations.

Jeff Jarvis, author of What Would Google Do? and all-round Google sycophant/visionary (depending on your point of view) sat in on a pretty amazing Q&A session with some top Google execs at Davos a couple of days ago and has published the exchanges in full on his excellent Buzzmachine blog.

Here’s a summary of what I think are the six most salient points:

1. There will be more transparency with Adsense.
   Google is willing to  “consider” disclosing the revenue split numbers behind the AdSense program.
   This has been a contentious area for ages as nobody quite knows how profitable this element is for Google.
2. Not that hot and bothered over the Ipad’s arrival.
   “You might want to tell me what the difference is between a large phone and a tablet,” Schmidt said.
   Ooh. Schmidt the bitch!
3. The importance of applications.
   “The phone is defined by the apps.”
   Do you reckon they’ll get to work on the Google Toilet now then?
4. The economy is improving.
   “The recession is very much behind us.”
   So speaks one of the largest, most visible (and profitable) companies in the world.  As a company that specialises in speeding up during the slowdown, this will be an interesting period to see just how far of the competition Google can stay.
5. Increased focus on display ads.
   “Display (ads) is likely to be our next really big business globally.”
   So, the initial Chrome billboard advertising wasn’t a one-off.  This is a pretty big statement when you think about it.  Google, an online company, is going back to print to maximise it’s advertising revenue.  Watch this (billboard) space.
6. Better partnerships with printed media.
   Marissa Mayer promises better ads and support for pay systems.
   This has been a bit of an Achilles heal for Google in 2009.  It’s not a case of the newspaper industry needing Google more than Google need them or vice versa..they need each other….I still believe there will be a major battle soon involving Newscorp, Google and Microsoft but a general improvement in relationships with the printed media will stop Newscorp amassing too many troops in the early stages.  And remember – anyone can annoy Rupert Murdoch.