But Google future success will rely on more than its new-found focus. It will also require the company reclaiming some of the innovative swagger it had when Eric Schmidt was CEO. In an interview last year, Schmidt recalled how Page and Sergey Brin "spent a lot of time on stressing this, on having original ideas -- if you had an idea that was copycat you were derided." Google can't afford to abandon that spirit for too long.
It may be that Page knows this. After all, there is a historical analogy in Google's onetime ally and now rival Apple. When Steve Jobs was reappointed as CEO there, he simplified the company's operations before focusing on new products. Whatever Page's strategy, it won't help Google if its brand ceases to be synonymous with new ideas that can surprise users.