IDGNS: From an engineer's point of view, is working on search engine technology still "cool" and professionally stimulating?

Mayer: Search is still very much an unsolved problem.... We're like six years into what's going to become a 500-year discipline. It's still very compelling, and we have people joining Google every day who are really excited to work on search.

IDGNS: Three or four years ago, people were saying, "Google is great, it's a cash cow, but for people to switch to another search engine, there's no cost in terms of effort or inconvenience." But it turns out this hasn't happened. What's Google's view into this issue?

Mayer: There are two non-obvious outcomes around the stickiness question. One is that it's true: If someone builds a better search, users will probably move over [to that competing engine.] That keeps our employees, especially our engineers, really well motivated to make sure no one has better search.... We have to prove to our users every day that we still have the best search.

The other non-obvious observation is that search is much stickier than most people realize. Intuitively, you know you can go to [other search engines] ... but people have a source they trust, and it takes them a long time to feel like they're not giving anything up [by using another search engine.]

When you find a long lost friend or information about a medical condition that is hard to diagnose or [you experience] that "I'm feeling lucky" moment when this amazing Web site turns up first on Google, each of those moments stays in your mind. There's an attachment, a trust there that this tool really brought me what I needed. So the switching cost for search is a lot higher [than people think.]

IDGNS: Where do the carriers come in for mobile search? I guess you can bypass them if the user has a mobile browser. Or else you can choose to partner with the carriers for better integration of your services.

Mayer: Certainly [mobile] Web browsers do work. That said, the deeper integration is much more advantageous. We've seen that right away with the [Google] Maps [service] being embedded into the iPhone.

That said, downloadable applications like Google Maps for Mobile or Gmail for Mobile often do sidestep some of the limitations of the particular software that may come preinstalled with the phone. That's a good strategy to help people who have capable phones use those products. So you can partner with the carriers to get it embedded in the phone when it ships or you can have an application that people can download later.

IDGNS: I imagine there are all sorts of business dealings and arrangements that need to be worked out.

Mayer: The mobile space is very complicated. We've got some very successful mobile partnerships in a number of countries ... so we've been working with [telecom] partners, but we've also been pursuing an alternate downloadable-application path.