I saw a study from Google in 2012 about the influence of internet on technology product purchases. It had many insightful nuggets about internet in India (my area of interest) - such as explaining the degree to which internet had spread in smaller cities in India, how people in those smaller cities use the internet in their purchase decisions, the fact that query volumes from mobiles phones in India for the same category were growing 3 times faster than desktop..and other such insights.

It felt that the insights were coming from Google's unique vantage point - i.e. their domination over search. I believe that there are many areas in which a company like Google can add great insights to the world (e.g. how to build a great company from scratch) and that when they share them, it ought to feel like "only Google could have come up with this".

If I read a book from someone senior at say Apple about best practices for managing a global supply-chain - then I'd be very curious to understand their unique point of view.

So my first comment about this being "disappointing" is coming more from that angle - Are these insights only Google can give? I am not sure (although it doesn't invalidate the insights themselves). Now, my second comment that I found them shallow, could be because like you say "I already get it" (although frankly, I don't think so - I feel that I don't get this stuff :) I am just always super curious to learn stuff from Google et al).