LAST WEEK we learned that AOL escaped Microsoft following its pursuits [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. AOL stayed with Google instead. We have explained why Google's monoculture in search is probably better than Microsoft propaganda and in the next post we will show that Microsoft tries to reverse truths and claim that Google, not Microsoft, is censoring/adding bias to the results which appear in pages.
One of Microsoft's boosters, Mr. Bishop, says that Microsoft lost in a bidding process wherein it could not outspend Google or afford to buy a contract (Microsoft has debt). AOL's story is a tad different because it claims that familiarity or expectation is why Google was chosen over Microsoft's Bong [sic] 'search'. Maybe they learned a lesson from that Verizon deal (now confirmed, even the numbers that were once rumoured), which forced all customers to use the Bong [1, 2]. Microsoft is running low(er) on cash and it shows:
A Change In Approach? Microsoft Chooses Not To Buy Search Share
[...]
That’s a change from how Microsoft has acted in the past when it is competing with Google for search advertising deals; a year-and-a-half ago, for instance, the company outbid Google, offering more than $500 million—twice what Google was willing to pay—to become the default search engine on Verizon phones. It has spent millions too to get its search bar pre-installed on Dell, HP (NYSE: HPQ) and Lenovo PCs.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has found a stick-and-carrot way to get people using its Bing search engine.
“Microsoft has updated Bing for Windows Mobile, in a way that many Windows Phone owners won’t be happy about.”
--PhoneNews.com"The latest version of Bing for Windows Mobile prohibits devices with QVGA or lower resolution screens… even for users that already have the application installed. Previously devices below QVGA (320Ãâ240 pixels) were permitted to install in an “unsupported” mode. This new change not only removes unsupported mode, but also blocks QVGA devices as well. QVGA was the resolution that Microsoft suggested for devices for nearly a decade."
Microsoft has had a fallback to exploit and it's called Yahoo!
Yahoo is being hurt by Microsoft and it carries on losing ground.
NHN is the second major Asian internet company to break up with Yahoo, which is in the process of outsourcing its own search technology to Microsoft’s Bing.
Yahoo's biggest search affiliate, Korea's NHN, is taking search in house.
A delay in shifting control of Yahoo Inc.'s (YHOO) paid Internet search results to Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) as part of the companies' partnership until after the holidays could be a financial positive for Yahoo, according to a research report published Monday.
Comments
BrownieBoy
2010-09-06 20:26:54
I just did those searches in Bing. All the results looked relevant to me. What am I missing?
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2010-09-06 20:34:54
twitter
2010-09-07 01:00:50
Franklin
2010-09-06 19:20:21
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2010-09-06 19:26:00
In reality, Microsoft's share in search is about 3% and it does not increase. Microsoft loses close to $3 billion/year online.
twitter
2010-09-07 00:35:55
At the end of the day, what you have with MSFT is the worst performing tech stock and a company that turned a $60 billion dollar cash pile into debt and layoffs. The areas of loss were gaming and online services, fruitless effort to extend and shore up their failing desktop monopoly. They don't even have enough money left to bribe AOL.