Google’s business is based on scale: the more who use it, the more data there is, the more relevant the searches become, the cheaper every click becomes and the more profitable the business is.

So says Google’s country head for South Africa Stephen Newton, who for the past ten months has had to weather the storm of expectations, hype, disappointment and criticism the world’s most powerful search company, and arguably the world’s e-commerce trendsetter, has been subjected to.