Most tech companies are like nation states, ruled from above by a single strong leader (Apple under Jobs being the best example). I've become to understand Google is much more like Germany in the mid-19th century - a collection of competing principalities with a common language but a weak and ineffective government coordinating their efforts. I remember being told on the first day of orientation that Google was not a meritocracy, but a feudal society. I think all of our more puzzling product evolutions make much more sense in that light.