Despite the recent moves to curtail the tech giant’s online dominance, prompting most companies to circle their wagons, Google appears to be taking the opposite approach, further diversifying its business model instead. I read this both as a sign of confidence in its current offerings and as a logical next step in order to leverage the innovative thinking that is happening within the company. Perhaps, not ever move will be a game changer, but at the very least, it creates more opportunity and forces the competition to keep pace. Two positive outcomes.

In one move (given its strong web presence), Google announced a plan to build on its online payment platform, Google Checkout, in a bid to create a universal system that will enable newspapers and other media producers to charge for their content online. Think of it as a gated community for that handles content created across multiple sites.

Google collects the micropayments, either through subscriptions or pay-as-you-go plans and distributes the money based on traffic or some other metric. The benefits for the producers are obvious, assuming they’re still able to pull in readers, but the boon for Google is twofold. They collect a percentage on the transactions and get to learn more about their audience’s habits. Which leads me to ask, will the public being willing pay, and will they have any choice?

The other deal is much farther afield. Google announced that it is working hard to improve the tech behind solar thermal heating systems. Essentially, seeking to improve the reflective surfaces to generate greater heat and more efficiencies. A plan that follows with its philanthropic quest to develop green technology, but also has the potential for big pay-outs given that the clean energy market is still relatively new.

But what’s most curious about this move, is that it appears to compete with Google’s early investments in solar, namely  eSolar and Brightsource. Apparently Google was unhappy with the level of innovations happening within this space and is seeking a more active role. This will have to be another wait and see, but with a working prototype expected in the next few months, it appears we’ll know soon enough.

[image via Yodel Anecdotal]