Are there signs that Google is slipping off its perch?

It would have been unthinkable just a year ago. With search, webmail and online docs completely sewn up, and with its fine blogging engine and good calendaring and scheduling Google seemed to be unassailable. As 2008 rolled in, all people could talk about was what Google was going to do next (and they meant do brilliantly).

As 2009 starts to get old (face it, we're bored already ;-), things don't look so hot. Last year was somewhat tinged with failure for Google. There were the first signs of bloat, overloaded services and loss of focus. We even saw some bad acquisitions (are they trying to copy IBM?).

It's still a great, great company - no doubt about that - but there are signs that they might have peaked, or at least that they are heading for a slump. Hopefully, this will only be temporary. Let's face it - if Google never did another thing they'd still be guaranteed their place in the IT Hall of Fame, but I sincerely hope we haven't seen the best of them yet.