Google II coming to a screen near you?

Known and respected as a truly entrepreneurial organisation, Google is used to being in the headlines. Innovative and with a focus on providing a wide range of online services to its users, Google has been well respected, receiving congratulations from politicians, companies and individuals alike.

However, recent news that Google has avoided a £100m UK tax bill may create a dimming of that positive glow.

Already people are turning to their crystal balls to predict who will be the ‘next Google’. But do they mean the next entrepreneurial team to become a commercial corporate entity or the next visionaries to improve our daily lives with enhanced communication and knowledge sharing?

The Sunday Times outlines some potential companies to watch in the online space, including:

* Admob – the world’s largest mobile advertising network (only 3 years old)

* Loopt – social mapping product

* Moshi Monsters – online children’s game

* Stardoll – an online world for adolescent girls (25m users)

But there are many more out there.

It wasn’t that long ago that the mobile phone was cited as the next big thing – allowing us to access the web from wherever we were in the world. However, small screens and restrictive mobile companies kept the dream small. Until now…

Researchers now predict that with the dawn of Smart Phones, more people will be accessing the web from their mobile phone than their desktop PC within 2 years! Next steps being localised content pushed to our phones, from restaurant reviews to places to visit.

So, could a future outlined in Sci Fi films like Blade Runner, with interactive billboard screens providing information relevant to us as we walk past, be just around the corner?

Science fiction style applications are continually being adopted into our modern world. And hopefully, future successes will focus on enhanced communication and information sharing to improve lives around the world.

I’m not sure anyone can predict the next big hit, but it will be interesting to see who will be the online stars of the big (mobile phone) screen!