History is littered with stories of empires that believed they were invincible and so could take on the world, fight on several fronts, extend their lines to breaking point and still win. The same thing can happen in industry and Google is the latest to head down this rocky road.
Already at loggerheads overseas and in confrontation with the Chinese government over censorship issues, Google has decided to fight on the home front as well and has fallen out with its former ally, Verizon Communications of the US.
Strong rumour has it that Verizon is lobbying the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to block Google's US$750 million acquisition of the mobile advertising company AdMob.
Google's ambitions seemingly know no bounds and Verizon (along with many other mobile phone operators) is scared stiff that the purchase of AdMob is the necessary precursor to the Cookie Monster launching its own cellular venture.
Google is already well on the way to completing such a scenario. It has developed and rolled-out the Android mobile operating system and introduced a Google handset, the Nexus One. The logical next step is for it to become a fully-fledged mobile network operator in its own right. Indeed Google already owns part of the "4G" wireless broadband company Clearwire, so the portents are obvious.
Bloomberg News says the FTC is now "reaching out" to some of Google's many rivals and is eager to get their input on the AdMob purchase.
Meanwhile, over in the Far East, Google is playing a high-stakes poker game with the Chinese authorities.
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