We’ve been consolidating the different services, so today Search, YouTube, the Google Play app store, all this plugs into Google+. And the reason for that is that Google+ is kind of like the next version of Google. And mobile is key to this, we’re seeing a lot of activity on mobile now.Steve Grove: Google+ Is Mobile, Search and Live Video [livemint.com]

There’s a lot of great value here, because Search also shows results from Google+ and this is going to bring more people into Google+; people are going to see that there’s a lot of value in logging into our services, before doing a search.

Google+ already has a lot of great features, so for example, on photos, which is a very big focus area for us, you’ve got auto-enhance, and auto-correction, and even an automatic highlight reel, so you don’t have to spend all your time curating the pictures you took. We’re using an algorithm to figure out, okay, these are the pictures you want to see, and we’re saving your time, so you can enjoy your content.
And while I can’t tell you what exactly, I can tell you there are going to be big developments in photos in 2014. Another big change is going to be Hangouts—it’s a powerful video platform, and we’re seeing its broadcast features develop now. It is going to be really big.
But at the centre of our strategy right now, there’s mobile, it’s very important, especially for photos. It’s also going to create a network future with people uploading live videos from their phones. Google+ could do for live video, what YouTube did for recorded video.