If Google’s wings are clipped in the mobile market by European Union judgements, other elements of its portfolio may gain heavier strategic weight as it pushes to create a dominant platform that looks well beyond PCs and mobile devices, and into every object which will have a web connection in future. Like Facebook, the company is engaged in developments in virtually every link of the emerging web experience chain, from AI-driven engines for fully context-aware services, to new user interfaces centered on virtual reality and speech; to expansion of connectivity itself via drones, balloons and unconventional spectrum options. All of these activities will create foundations which Google can control, and which will support the continuous expansion of its platform, the…