CEO Sundar Pichai revealed Google’s translator’s money-making potential on Monday during the firm’s second-quarter earnings conference call. Google Search, YouTube, Google Docs, and Gmail are already generating money for the company every day. The app translates almost 143 billion words per day, and it got a big boost during the Football World Cup Tournament. Google translator launched 12 years ago, and it has been adding new features over the years. The giant currently offers its translation services for free, but they will not deny the aspect of making money out of this app.
I … was extremely proud to see the positive feedback on how useful Google Translate was for people who traveled to Russia. In these simple moments, when you’re in an unfamiliar place or you don’t know the language, Google is there to help with the right information at the right time. – Sundar Pichai, CEO Google
A lot of people use the app while traveling so including ads for hotels and restaurants and the likes will obviously benefit Google money wise. But they have to be careful if they decide to include ads in the apps as it may become disruptive and tiresome at times. Google is experienced in developing useful ads. The business opportunities for the Translator app are likely to expand as the company is still enhancing the app with new features.
However, Pichai did not mention any plans for monetizing Google Translate. In fact, his comments suggested that Google sees its Maps app as the near-term opportunity for new ad revenue. But the suggestion made by Pichai is unlikely to be ignored forever by the search giant. Google language machine will turn into a money-making machine whether it decides to flip the switch or two years from now.
