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In November 2011, Mozilla's arrangement with Google — to make Google the default search engine and home page when launching the open-source browser — came to an end. The relationship was renewed for another three years for an estimated couple hundred million dollars. The fact that Google still needs to (and is willing to) pay Mozilla for mind-share indicates three things about the "State of the Google" as we head into 2012:

1. Google's Search Engine dominance may not be as dominant or as strong as Google likes. The fact that Google still needs to pay anyone, anything for mind-share means that there is still strong competition in the search engine marketplace. Google may have 70% - 80% of search engine traffic, but that is probably below their goal. The Bing/Yahoo relationship might be stronger than most will readily admit. It's hard to say exactly, but a smart company doesn't just throw away a couple hundred million dollars unless it is warranted. Instead, that kind of money is spent investing or protecting something important.
2. The Chrome Browser is not as popular as Google needs it to be. While Google's Chrome browser has gained market share in 2011, Google doesn't see Chrome in a strong of enough position to yet pull the plug on sponsoring Firefox. Think of it this way, if Chrome was the dominant browser, would Google need to spend any money with Mozilla? If Chrome rises, Firefox falls because both are the alternative browsers for most Windows and Mac users. In that race, usually one wins and one loses. Chrome has not one yet, so Google Search needs to be the default on both browsers.
3. Threats loom deep for Google search revenue. One might think Google's revenue from search is as safe as a baby in a bassinet. The truth is as more people spend time using Facebook, more people spend more time searching in Facebook and not with Google. Apple is another indirect competitor to Google's Search. The iPhone 4S that has shown us a completely new way to search for information — ask your phone. Voice search is bound to be huge in the upcoming years, and Google promises to have something similar, but they are admittedly playing catch-up with Apple, and we've seen how well that works. Just ask Microsoft about trying to shift to the mobile space while chasing Apple's continual improvements.

Google has enjoyed a great run in the first decade of the 21st Century, but across the board, long-knives are coming out for the search engine giant. Google is going to make many moves this decade, but a growing amount of them will be to protect the business it already has, vs growing it's future.

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