just like they try to beat youtube with google video .... or Facebook with okkut..(not sure how they write it ...) ... if they cannot buy it they create a clone...so far they fail...
1. Gmail - The history makes it seem like an internal project that became public. Wasn't started to beat some new hot startup earning the attention of the fawning public & investors; wasn't built to muscle into the territory of some startup earning bucketloads of cash.
2. Maps - Was about building a better way to distribute maps on the web. Again, not about muscling in onto a hot new space.