This morning Phil Waineright on how Google's advertising network keeps it in the game, even if Alexa-based services take search market share: "Yes, that's right, an Alexa-driven search engine that's funded by Google-driven ads. At a stroke, it becomes obvious that Google's wealth doesn't come from the fact that it's a search engine funded by advertising. It comes from the fact that it's a pay-per-click contextual advertising engine, which also happens to run its own search engine."

Waineright, like Gates below, decouples Google's advertising network from its search software. What keeps Google in the game? The reach that its contextual advertising engine offers advertisers and the attractive revenue sharing terms it offers third-party publishers. So what happens when a competitor with credible technology offers third-party publishers better terms, which is to say more revenue, to carry its advertisements? A payday for publishers. How does paying users fit into this market?  ¶ 7:34 AM