????去年外界曾一度批評谷歌（Google）失去了發展重點，對此谷歌CEO拉里?佩奇表示，要把“更多的木頭安在更少的箭頭后面”。翻譯過來就是說，谷歌將要削減過于臃腫的產品線，讓工程師們把精力集中在更重要的事情上。為了表明對這個問題的重視，佩奇砍掉了一款名為“谷歌健康”（Google Health）的電子病歷在線儲存服務，另外還關掉了一個名為“谷歌電表”（Power Meter）的服務。它主要用來記錄家庭用電，知名度本來就不高。

????然而專注于一個重點是很難的。上周谷歌又推出了一系列新產品，包括一款平板電腦、一個名叫Nexus Q的家庭娛樂播放器，還發布了一項企業計算服務。不僅如此，谷歌還展出了一款極具未來主義色彩的上網眼鏡，未來它甚至有望取代智能手機。在線儲存服務公司Box的首席執行官艾倫?李維說：“谷歌很專注——只是它對任何事都很專注。”

????整個硅谷都對谷歌的專注度表示懷疑。蘋果（Apple）的戰略思想“保持簡單”在硅谷人看來是最理想的哲學。蘋果自己只專注于有限的幾款產品，因而更容易在細節上下工夫，因此它的i系列電腦、平板和智能手機都比競爭對手做得出色。

????在谷歌歷史上的大部分時間里，谷歌的戰略都是“廣種薄收”。多年以來，似乎只要就能吸引一次公眾的眼球，工程師們任何稀奇古怪的創意都能獲得審批立項。

????除了作為核心的搜索業務和在線廣告業務之外，谷歌還有好幾十項業務是專門為了吸引公眾的注意而存在的。要想記住谷歌的所有產品幾乎是不可能的，即便是那些密切關注谷歌的人可能也做不到。有時谷歌的某些服務已經很久沒有升級，大概是連谷歌內部的人都忘了還有這么一項服務。

????谷歌自己偶爾也會砍掉一些過時或過氣的服務。不過自從去年拉里?佩奇重掌帥印以來，谷歌清理次要服務的速度似乎加快了。除了谷歌健康和谷歌電表之外，他還砍掉了在線幻燈片服務Slide、社交網絡服務Buzz，以及用來測試一些實驗性產品的網站Google Lab。另外維基百科的谷歌克隆版Knol也將在今年10月關停。

????谷歌拒絕對這個問題發表評論。不過從去年開始的一系列博文中可以看出，谷歌高管曾反復談到，“專注”是谷歌關掉30多個產品和功能的主要原因，目的是把資源分配到那些能產生更大影響力的產品和服務上。谷歌社交網絡Google+的產品副總裁布拉德利?霍洛維茨稱：“我們渴望能打造出一些能真正改變人們的生活的偉大產品，一些人們每天要使用兩三次的產品。要想成功，需要真正的專注和思想——要想清楚什么是要做的，同樣重要的是，也要想清楚什么是不要做的?！?/p>

????為了提高公司的專注度，去年佩奇重返CEO寶座后不久便將公司重組為7個業務集團?，F在公司高層各自分管不同的領域，比如廣告、社交網絡、Android系統、Chrome瀏覽器、視頻網站YouTube和本地化商業移動業務等。而不是像過去那樣，由于產品過度擴張，造成責任不明確，決策效率低下。

????Last year, Larry Page, Google's chief executive, responded to criticism that his company had lost focus by promising to put "more wood behind fewer arrows." Translation: Google would cull its bloated list of products so that engineers could attend to bigger priorities.

????To show that he was serious about focus, Page killed off Google Health, an online locker for digital health records, and PowerMeter, a little known service for tracking home utility consumption.

????But staying focused is hard to do, as Google (GOOG) showed last week when it introduced a series of new products including a tablet computer, a home entertainment hub and a corporate computing service. As if that was not enough, Google previewed futuristic Internet-enabled eye glasses that are supposed to make smartphones obsolete. "Google is focused. On everything," Aaron Levie, chief executive of Box, an online file storage service, joked in a post on Twitter.

????Questions about Google's focus echo across Silicon Valley, where Apple's (AAPL) keep-it-simple business strategy is often lauded as the ideal. A limited number of products make it easier to sweat the details that make a computer, tablet or smartphone better than a rival's -- or so Apple's philosophy goes.

????For most of its history, Google's strategy has been likened to throwing spaghetti on a wall to see what sticks. For years, it seemed like engineers could get any pet project approved for a splashy public premiere.

????Dozens of services vie for attention alongside Google's core search and online advertising business. Remembering all of the products is nearly impossible, even for someone who follows the company closely. Sometimes, it seems like Google's services are forgotten internally as well given how long some of them go without being updated.

????To be sure, the company has occasionally killed duds or those that fell out of favor. But since Page returned to the role of chief executive last year, the pace of executions has seemed to be on an upswing. In addition to Google Health and PowerMeter, he eliminated Slide, an online slideshow; Buzz, a social networking service; and Labs, a test bed for some of the company's not-quite-ready for primetime products. Knol, a Wikipedia clone, is scheduled to be shut down in October.

????Google declined to comment. But in a series of blog posts since last year, its executives have repeatedly mentioned focus as the rationale behind closing more than 30 products or features, and redirecting resources to others that can create a higher impact. "We aspire to build great products that really change people's lives, products they use two or three times a day," said Bradley Horowitz, vice president of product for Google's social network, Google +. "To succeed you need real focus and thought—thought about what you work on and, just as important, what you don't work on."

????In another effort to bring more focus, Page reorganized the company into seven groups shortly after retaking the chief executive role last year. Now top leaders oversee specific areas -- advertising, social networking, Android, Chrome, YouTube, and local mobile commerce -- instead of broad portfolios that diluted accountability and slowed decision-making.