Google Climb Put on Hold

Google gave its usual intriguing hints of initiatives in development. The company is close to allowing its blue-chip advertising clients greater access to rich-media ads instead of plain text links, and its ad-sales team has been restructured to better meet the needs of big clients.

The company is also enhancing its offerings with emerging technology, preparing to roll out more features like maps for mobile devices and experimenting with RSS and tagging, two promising new Internet-content technologies. It's also having better luck hiring the staff it needs to develop features, bringing on 700 new employees in the second quarter.

But when it came to financial transparency, Schmidt and his minions retreated under the usual cone of silence. Google again refused to give any guidance beyond the cautious tone concerning third-quarter seasonality.

Analysts, strictly limited to asking only one question each, mostly chose not to waste it on seeking out financial clarity. One rebel who asked the entirely reasonable question of what drove revenue growth in the quarter, was politely told to go pound sand. "Overall, we were delighted at posting 10% [quarter on quarter] revenue growth," sniffed Reyes. "Beyond that, we can't give you much color."

And then the castle gates slammed shut for another three months.