Google's new features -- can they attract customers?

One of the best lines I've heard from top Google officers recently had to do with this statement: "we launch products first, iron out the bugs, then find out how to monetize the product later" (paraphrased). This means that Google, while still (now) relying on search text ads for almost all it's billions in revenue, is hinting at the possibility of some products not making much, if any, money in the short-term.

Nothing new here, as there are scores of public companies that derive almost all revenue from a single source (ok, maybe a few sources) and break even or lose money in other areas. Generally, the good thing to do for investors in that instance is sell off or close the divisions that just squeak by. After all, what's the point if you can't make a profit?

Google seems to have a different way of attacking this problem. Investors don't seem to care that many of its products -- take Google Earth or Google Calendar, for example -- don't make the company money (at least now they don't). Google has the unusual luxury of giving excellent returns to shareholders thus far. This strategy builds in a timeline for the company to monetize other services it offers; and it will, given a little time.

In fact, my guess is that it's part of the Google strategy: unleash market-busting products (like Gmail, which upended the web email industry) and then slowly but surely launch the strategy that will make that product profitable to the company, while the strategy is cloaked in secrecy. Time will tell if this is correct, but Google may continue to outfox the competition using sly tactics like this -- if in fact it is.